1000 Lives
by BlueOrphan
Summary: Friends. Lovers. Soulmates, not even time and death could separate our favourite hanyou and princess.
1. Under the Sacred Sky

Under the Sacred Sky

_Some people were never meant to be while others seem as if they were made for each other. But what if no matter what life-time, no matter what period, those special two people would always find each other again because that is how it's meant to be. These are the stories of multiple lifetimes, multiple realities where a shrine priestess and samurai will always find each other no matter what. Because it's a promise and their love was too strong to stay for one life-time. _

She was praying when Setsuna found her. The young priestess, dressed in her traditional shrine priesetess robes, stood in front of the crackling fire in the room, eyes closed and lips moving. Setsuna hadn't made a sound, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed and Yunagi lying against the wooden wall. She watched the priestess softly, the reflection of the bright flames casting shadows across her handsome face.

"Secchan," Konoka turned around, smiling at her.

"Konoka-hime," Setsuna nodded to her, straightening and bowing.

The young girl sighed, shaking her head. "How many times have I told you not to call me that?"

"I'm sorry," Setsuna replied automatically.

The way Konoka looked at her, she always felt like she herself was looking back at an angel.

"As much as I'd like this to be a friendly visit...I know the Shinmeiryu don't usually approach me unless it's for healing or something like that," Konoka said.

"Well...there's been some trouble down in the villages. Some demons from the uzoku tribe attacked," Setsuna explained. "We managed to fend them off but a few of the children got hurt."

Konoka's brows knitted together, her eyes troubled. She placed the sticks down on the floor and hurried after Setsuna who had disappeared out the door into the dark night. She had to run to catch up to her.

"Wait, did you say the uzoku tribe?" Konoka asked once she'd caught up.

"Yes," Setsuna's expression darkened. "It seems my brethren want revenge after that last attack."  
"But that's silly! It wasn't even us that attacked them," Konoka exclaimed.

"They believe that since that attack, the curse is still upon them," Setsuna said.

Konoka took her hand, holding it tightly. "You don't believe that now do you?"

Setsuna didn't answer because some part of her still did. Brought up by the village elders ever since she was kicked out of the bird tribe for having white wings, a curse that they believed, she owed her life to Konoka and her father. Out of everyone there at the time, only those two hadn't shunned her, hadn't put on fake niceties and pretended like it didn't scare them that she was half bird demon, the things that terrorized the villages on a frequent basis. Then she'd learned Shinmeiryu swordsmanship from Eishun and quickly rose among the ranks as captain of the defence forces.

"Can I ask you a question Secchan?" Konoka's voice was quiet. Setsuna glanced at her, curious.

"What is it Hime-sama?" Setsuna said.

"Do you believe in fate?"

"What?" Setsuna's expression turned to one of confusion.

"Fate," Konoka repeated.

"Well...I believe that everything will happen the way it's meant to happen I suppose."  
"Kaede was telling me about something the other day. She said that in this world everyone has a soul-mate and they're tied together by the finger by a red string. She also said that maybe there's only one person for everyone, " Konoka said.  
"One person...," Setsuna murmured. She never would say it but she loved the priestess.

"Let's make a promise ne Secchan?" Konoka stopped making Setsuna stop. Turning to face her, the priestess raised a fist, pinky fingerupraised.  
"What are you doing?" Setsuna stared at her, bemused.

Giggling, Konoka said. "It's a promise! Just do as I do."  
Setsuna shook her head at Konoka in amazement but she complied anyway. Sometimes the girl came up with the weirdest things. Konoka chanted something and a red stream of energy formed around her pinky finger, streaking across to Setsuna's and tying around it in a knot.

"Underneath the sacred sky this loosened thread now turns into a bond," Konoka grinned in the darkness, one of those grins that made Setsuna's heart beat so much faster.  
It shimmered for a few seconds before disappearing.

"Wait...a bond?" Setsuna echoed.

"Yep, so no matter what, we'll always find each other," Konoka said happily. Nudging her with her elbow, she grinned at her and said before walking down the path, "Come on let's go."  
Setsuna blinked in surprise before shaking her head and hurrying after her, smiling to herself.


	2. Chapter 2

"Konochan?" A tiny voice, eager but hesitant, broke through the silence of the room.

On the left side of the room, the little girl with chocolate brown hair mumbled something and shifted in her sleep. The other little girl across from her the one who'd spoken, threw back the soft quilt covers and jumped out of her bed. She stumbled, landing awkwardly and ran to the other girl. She liked to pretend she had wings so when she jumped it looked like she was getting ready to fly. She shook the girl, Kono-chan, gently.

"Mmm Secchan? What is it?" The girl murmured sleepily, rubbing grit from her eyes as she blinked wearily at her friend.

"I can't sleep," Secchan said anxiously, twisting her fingers together.

"Why?" Konochan looked at her friend in confusion.

"I...I want to do that thing I did with the fire yesterday. I can't sleep if I don't do it Kono-chan," Secchan was hopping from foot to foot looking panicked.

"Uwah ok, I'll help you," Konochan said brightly. She carefully stepped out of her bed, testing the floor to feel where it was before jumping down.

"I had it you know," Secchan chattered excitedly, her eyes alight.

"I know then Asuna-chan had to trip with that bucket of water," Konochan laughed.

"It wasn't funny!" Secchan pouted, sulking. Her eyes lit up as a flicker of orange-red shimmered to existence for one single second then winked out like a candle.

Seeing the disappointed look on her friend's face, Konochan suggested, "Try again. Here, I'll give you some of my power!" She started to rub her hands together fast, chanting.

"I'd like that Konochan," Secchan said with a smile, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly.

Sticking out her tongue at her, Konochan suddenly hugged her in a bear hug, squeezing tight, "You're so cute!"

"Ah Konochan let go of me you're going to put the flame out!" Secchan cried, arms flailing.

"Then you can just make another one can't you?" Konochan giggled.

"Maybe," Secchan muttered, her face scrunched up in concentration. A bright orange flame came to life, flickering wildly at the tip of her index finger this time without dying. "Kono-chan, look, look I did it again!"

"Alright, go Secchan I knew you could do it!" Konochan whooped, still holding onto Secchan.

Puffing up her chest Secchan beamed proudly. That was when the door opened, throwing a rectangle of light into the dark room. Squealing giddily, both girls darted for their beds. Unfortunately Secchan accidentally hit her head on the hard wooden board of the side of the bed and landed on her rear end on the floor, misjudging the distance as she tried to lunge into it. For a moment she just sat there in stunned silence then burst out into tears.

"Oh Secchan, please be more careful next time," The woman who'd entered sighed, picking the girl up and putting her back down onto the bed.

Konochan was already there at the side of the bed and looking at her friend with worry, her eyes wide. "Is she going to be ok?"

"Yes Kono-chan don't worry, it's just a bump on the head," The woman reassured her, patting Secchan , who was still crying, on the head and kissing the sizeable lump that was forming there.

"Ok...," Konokachan said uncertainly.

"Now you two promise me that you'll go back to sleep alright? You have to get up bright and early tomorrow for play-time with Asuna-chan and Ayaka-chan," The woman said, smiling at them before turning off the lights and closing the door quietly.

But when the door shut, she could hear the girl sing and saw her putting her hands to Secchan's head and taking them away again, three times, "Pain, pain, go away! Pain, pain go away, pain, pain..."

Her voice trailed off as the woman started to walk down the hall. She could hear a brave little voice sniff, "It doesn't hurt anymore Konochan."

"They alright now Shizuna?" Takamichi asked as she approached him. For a man in his late 40s he'd aged well. Handsome with stubble on his chin, he was leaning back against the wall and watching her come down the hall with his usual relaxed expression.

"I think so. Setsuna-chan was having one of her hallucinations again," Shizuna sighed, shaking her head. "I think it's getting worse and well, this is an unusual case but Konoka-chan seems to see this 'fire' as well. She was cheering her on when I opened the door to check on them."

"I see...a joint hallucination?"

"Somehow Takamichi...this is beyond anything I've ever seen here or in my career as a psychologist. Usually each person sees different hallucinations but these two...they seem to see anything that the other one sees. I've never seen two people who've been closer to each other, to the point of even _sharing _hallucinations," Shizuna said.

Stretching, Takamichi gave her a sympathetic smile. "They're very young. Perhaps this won't continue into their later years if it's just minor."

"Setsuna-chan thinks she can fly. She thinks she has wings. She thinks she can cause fire to come from her fingers and has a sword that can break through walls and kill demons, not to mention all those nightmares. And she even thinks demons are real. In fact they both do and Konoka-chan...you won't believe what she told me yesterday. When I asked her if she ever thought of what she wanted to do in the future she told me she wanted to be a great mage one day, to help people who are wounded or injured with magical powers of healing," Shizuna shook her head. "For children..."

"Just mere fantasies," Takamichi said. "They aren't harming anyone. And Konoka-chan seems to be a good influence on Setsuna-chan. Remember how shy she was when she first came here? Why in just one day, she's become as active and happy as Asuna-chan. It's a good thing we those two together."

"I suppose. She's awfully shy around anyone else other than Konoka-chan, won't even say a word with the other children but with her...," Shizuna said as they left.

"Aye you'd think they'd known each other forever," Takamichi chuckled to Shizuna.

* * *

A/N: Thank you to everyone who's reviewed my story and put me on alert. Hope you guys enjoy this one just as much.


	3. Mr Wonderful

Mr Wonderful

It was noisy as usual in class 2-A. Setsuna sat in the back as usual, slouching with his elbow on the table resting his head against it. He tapped his desk silently with his fingers. It didn't take long for some of the girls in the class to approach him with flowers or a box of chocolates or some silly love poem or letter in their hands. Some were more creative and had knitted a scarf or some weird jewellery for him to wear or made tiny stuffed dolls. He politely declined them and although it didn't make him feel good to send each girl away with those sad looks on their faces or even some crying, he wasn't a firm believer in leading people on nor was he interested in...well anyone.

"Don't you think you should accept at least one Setsuna-dono? It's Valentine's Day after all," Kaede said, plopping down in his chair beside him as he politely declined and apologized to another girl who'd just asked for his love with a teddy-bear.

"Well I suppose he's got Tsukuyomi to think of. That girl would probably hunt down every girl he accepts even if he was just doing it to spare their feelings," Mana, who lounging in his chair a few seats away, drawled.

Laughing, one of the girls who was nearby, a mangaka, grinned, "I'm surprised that girl hasn't killed anyone. Setsuna-kun must've gotten like what tonnes of love letters already, isn't that right?"

Setsuna just shrugged one shoulder, gazing out the window as the teacher came in and barked at everyone to take their seats. When the bell rang for recess, he pushed his chair back and slung his back-pack over his shoulder. Setsuna plugged in his head-phones, thumbing through the tracks as he walked out of the class down the corridor to the court-yard. As he did girlish giggles followed him. Girls smiled at him nervously and the more bold ones walked up to him and announced their love for him, a few even asked for his hand in marriage. Setsuna again respectfully and politely declined, wondering when it'd stop until someone crashed into him, latching her arm around his.

"Seeenpai! Why didn't you come visit me this morning?" An annoying high-pitched voice cried out right in his ear, making him cry out in pain.

"Um, I never said I would," Setsuna said with a wince, rubbing his ear.

Tsukuyomi was two years his junior in the kendo club they both participated in. She was always around him and whenever he was alone, she could always, always find him. Even when he'd been hiding in the garbage disposal bin once in the back of an apartment to hide from a pack of crows that'd decided to attack him. It turned out Tsukuyomi was hiding too-or something. He still wasn't quite sure on the details about how she got here because she'd ended up scaring the hell out of him and when he'd scrambled out of the bin by chasing him all the way back to the dorms squealing out about how she wanted to take a shower with him. Setsuna shivered. He could still remember the amount of things he'd thrown in her way in an effort to stop her, only to have her dodge every single one of them and nearly cause a mass pile-up in the process.

"...SENPAI! SENPAI!"

Jumping about a foot in the air, Setsuna cringed, "Y-yes?"

"You weren't listening to me were you?" She scolded, wagging her finger in her face.

"Sorry."

"Apology accepted," Tsukuyomi smiled so fast that if Setsuna didn't know her better he would've thought he was just imagining her previous bout of irritation. It scared Setsuna sometimes how fast she could change moods.

"Ah...senpai, I can't wait for us to fight again this afternoon!" She gushed, tightening her grip on Setsuna's arm so hard he could feel the circulation dying.

"Yeah..."

"And you'd better have an empty stomach or this delicious cake I slaved all last night and this morning to make will go to waste!" Tsukuyomi cooed.

"What cake and will you please let me go?" Setsuna sighed, exasperated. For someone who was so short and skinny she really had an iron grip. "And may I remind you I am not your...," His eye twitched, "Love."

"Of course I am!" Tsukuyomi smiled at him, blatantly ignoring everything he said. She was also going on about them getting married in the future and being boyfriend and girlfriend, something which made Setsuna squirm. He was only 16 for Christ's sake!

As Setsuna walked along, tuning out Tsukuyomi's chattering, he heard voices above him. Looking up, he saw a girl with long brown hair teetering on the edge of the roof-top a few paces ahead of them. She turned to get something but slipped. Setsuna's eyes widened as the girl flailed around and lost her balance. Screaming, she plunged towards the ground. Setsuna disentangled himself from Tsukuyomi and ran forwards to catch her. He was too fast in fact and tripped over his own feet, landing with a thud on the ground. He twisted around to see a pair of legs and white lacy under-wear coming straight for his face. BAM. His eyes bulged, feeling the wind socked out of him as something akin to one of those iron black weights he saw in cartoons was dropped on his chest. When the stars cleared from his eyes he was met a large pair of anxious chocolate brown eyes framed by a cascade of long brown hair.

"Ow..." Setsuna groaned, blinking rapidly to remove the red spots in his vision.

"Are you ok? I'm so sorry," She was on top of him, her arms on either side of him and her legs spread out.

Setsuna blushed as she shifted her legs, one knee coming close to his nether regions, "Y-yeah, um, are you?"

"Thanks to you I am. I thought I was gonna die!" She laughed and looked up at the roof-top where a girl with orange hair poked her head over it. She looked visibly relieved, a little pale but relieved nevertheless.

"What the hell were you doing Konoka? It's the sack of flour we're meant to be dropping not you!" She shouted.

"Sorry, I was checking how far up we were from the ground and lost my balance!" The girl named Konoka shouted. She gave Setsuna a grateful smile and got off him.

Clearing his throat, Setsuna scrambled to his feet and brushed himself off. "Well I'm glad to see you're alright, Konoka-san was it?"

"Yep," Konoka nodded. "And you are...?"

"Sakurazaki Setsuna," He answered.

"Oh so you're the famous mysterious bad boy of 2-A. I've heard a lot about you," Konoka's eyes seem to shine and she seemed intrigued.

"None of it good I guess," Setsuna smiled thinly.

"Oi Konoka, get your sorry butt back up here we still have to do five more tests of this before the break is over and I wanna eat!" The redhead yelled.

"Hai, hai, coming Asuna, calm down!" Konoka called. Flashing Setsuna a smile, she waved and ran back up the steps. "I hope I'll see you around Setsuna-san! I'm Konoka by the way!"

Watching her disappear up the steps back into the building for a moment, Setsuna bent down and picked up his i-pod he'd dropped just as Tsukuyomi magically appeared at his side again, steaming mad.

Pouting, she glowered, "Who does that girl think she is, falling on my senpai like that. Everyone knows I'm your girl."

Setsuna patted her head, "Hai hai Tsukuyomi-chan."

"Mou senpai! You're mocking me!" Tsukuyomi jumped on his back, wrapping her arms around his neck and nearly choked him.

"W-what are you doing?" Setsuna spluttered as his face turned purple as the diminutive girl seemed set on suffocating him, tightening her arms around him.

"Give me a piggy-back ride back to the dojo!" Tsukuyomi commanded.

Sighing, Setsuna adjusted Tsukuyomi on his back and turned around. There was no god.

* * *

A/N: Yosh, sorry this took so long. Had a stressful week so it was hard to find time to post this _,. As usual, enjoy and constructive criticism is welcome.

On the previous chapter my apologies to all, I forgot to put the title in there but it's called Mental.

setchan-1995: That is a very interesting idea setchan, well worth interpreting the hallucinations as. I never actually thought about that.

worldisminein21days: I'm glad to hear that ^^. I enjoyed writing that part especially xD.

Wolf Hanyou: I have heaps more resting in the woodwork so you don't have to worry about that.

Asceour: Wewt, reviewed twice love you 3 You kind of had the same idea as setchan xD. But for the record, no they are actually hallucinating everything. Although the past-life recalling is definitely possible.


	4. Chapter 4

Mr Wonderful-Take 2

"Soooooooooooo spill princess! What happened? Did you two gaze into each other's eyes and time stop right there-" Haruna swooned.

"Geeze Paru, stop making it such a big deal!" Asuna rolled her eyes, taking a sip from her milkshake.

"It is a big deal! Boys would give their left arm to even be graced with the presence of the dean's bootilicious grand-daughter!"

Haruna declared. Waggling her eyebrows she added, "And to see a bit of her cleavage isn't that right?"

"You're taking this a bit too far," Yue remarked beside her, setting her glass down on the table.

"I told you, it didn't happen like that," Konoka mumbled.

"Did it happen like this?" Haruna grinned, sliding over her sketch-book across the table to Konoka.

Blushing, Konoka pushed the sketch-book back deciding not to answer. She was with her friends at the local cafe and somehow word had leaked out about the accident so now naturally everyone knew what'd happened or at least, a really exaggerated version. She blamed a certain reporter in her class.

"Excuse me, would you like to order?" A waiter appeared at their booth, asking.

"Ah no thank you, we've already...," Konoka turned to face the waiter and stopped, eyes widening. "Setsuna-kun?"

"Konoka-san, Asuna-san!"

Haruna spurted out the milkshake she'd started to drink, spluttering, "It's you!"

Looking at Haruna oddly, Setsuna glanced back at Konoka nervously, "Konoka-san, I uh...fancy seeing you here."

"Um yeah it's the weekend so I thought I'd go to the cafe with my friends. How are you? Sorry I squished you like a pancake," Konoka said.

"Ah well, I'm glad you're ok. I'm fine, no broken bones or anything so you don't need to worry," Setsuna shrugged.

"So what's with the cat ears and tails Setsuna-san?" Asuna snickered.

"It's a theme we're starting to introduce. Every second day we draw someone random out of the hat to wear animal-themed props," Setsuna touched the cat-eared head-band sitting neatly on the top of his head self-consciously.

"I think it's a great idea," Nodoka spoke up from beside Yue, offering him a shy smile.

Setsuna smiled slightly, making Konoka's heart thump.

"Thank you. Uh well since you're all already settled I'll leave you to enjoy your drinks," Setsuna bowed.

Just then all present heard someone screaming and someone slammed into Setsuna, sending him plunging forwards into an unsuspecting Konoka or rather, an unsuspecting Konoka's lips. For a very long moment the only thing that could be heard in the group was silence, dead unforgiving silence. Then Haruna wolf-whistled and Asuna burst out laughing. Setsuna jumped backwards, red-faced.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Please forgive me!"

His apologies were mingled with the cries of the pink-haired waitress that'd crashed into him on her roller-blades. Scrambling to her feet, she bowed frantically alongside Setsuna and when the pair hurried to leave they ended up bumping into each other. Twirling around Setsuna, the waitress skated off to another booth while Setsuna side-stepped her awkwardly, running out of there as fast as he could to any other booth.

"Oh my god Konoka, he's so cute! Nice hair, nice eyes and I can tell he's got a great body! You should've slipped him your number while you two were locking lips," Haruna said dreamily, gazing at him.

He was taking orders from a trio of girls with pom-poms. One of the girls was flourishing her pom-pom in his face and it looked like he was trying hard not to sneeze.

Waving a hand in front of Haruna's face, Asuna called, "Earth to Paru! Hey, wake up!"

Laughing, Haruna flashed another of her infamous grins, "Well, it's fun to dream hey?"

"You shouldn't be so upfront," Asuna sighed. "You're going to scare him away before he even makes a move on our Konoka."  
"Pft, if anything Konoka'll be the one who's initiating. A guy like that, he's too shy to come forward," Haruna said.

"You people are talking about them like they're already in a relationship," Yue groaned.

"Ah young grass-hopper but can't you see? He keeps on looking over here when he thinks we're not looking and Konoka doesn't seem to mind, do you Konoka?" Haruna's eyes gleamed behind her glasses and Asuna could tell she was thinking a thousand perverted thoughts.

As Konoka maintained a dignified silence, keeping her eyes on the drink in front of her Yue said. "Are you sure it's not because you're the one that keeps on staring at him like that?"

"My dear Yue-chi, those are looks of adoration and lust! Of love, of the first blossoming of romance! It's love I tell you, love!" Haruna exclaimed, her voice rising so loudly that people around their booth turned to stare at the crazy girl.

Even the pink-haired waitress paused, balancing five tall glasses of gelatos and milk-shakes in a tray on each hand. Setsuna didn't look but Konoka had a funny feeling she'd heard everything Haruna had said. One of the girls with the pom-poms pointed in their direction, most probably asking if Haruna was crazy. Setsuna glanced over at them, face deadpan. When their eyes met he looked away again.

Slinging his backpack over his shoulder and putting his other hand in his pockets, Setsuna felt extremely perturbed when he left the café for the dorm. That girl Haruna was kind of scary and he had a disturbing feeling that she wanted to pounce on him and tear his clothes off. He'd never felt like he was being watched so much before in such a short space of time or so scared when he'd heard all that talk of love and romance the girl had been practically yelling about. Setsuna shuddered. His life was getting scary. Thankfully it looked like Haruna was just strange as opposed to Tsukuyomi who just flat out terrified him sometimes and made him fear for his life on a near daily basis. Sighing, Setsuna took a breath and wondered if any other high school students had psychopaths stalking them and unwittingly attempting to end their lives prematurely every time they met each other. Entertaining that lovely thought he frowned slightly. Great, now he felt even more disturbed.

And then there was the dean's grand-daughter. He'd kissed her! He'd full on kissed her on the lips. Granted it wasn't his fault but he'd done it. It was bad enough he'd caught an eyeful of her underwear. Setsuna leaned back against a lamp-post at the crossing, staring up at the sky. Konoka had seemed completely comfortable but maybe she was just that happy-go-lucky…or maybe she was just used to kissing boys. She was popular enough. While pondering that, he became aware of someone singing off-key, really, really badly. It was Konoka. She was walking down the street on the other side, twirling and making weird hand gestures for whatever reason Setsuna didn't know. And as luck would have it, a stray puppy bounded out onto the street onto the crossing guard in front of an oncoming car. Yelping, it cowered as the car skidded towards it. Konoka cried out, dashing towards the puppy. Setsuna's eyes popped open and he gave a yell, tackling both Konoka out of the way of the oncoming car.

"Are you crazy?" Setsuna bellowed as they hit the sidewalk, the car coming dangerously close to him as it swerved and turned a sharp left.

Disentangling herself from him Konoka ran towards the puppy which was miraculously alive but she stumbled and fell down with a yelp, holding her ankle.

"I think I sprained it," Konoka whimpered as Setsuna hurried to her.

"What the hell were you thinking? You could've been killed!" Setsuna demanded.

Glaring at him, Konoka protested, "I would've made it if you hadn't tackled me like that and made me hurt myself!"

"Oh so it's my fault? I save you from being a statistic and it's my fault?" Setsuna sputtered, shooting her a smouldering look.

Turning her nose up at him, she crossed her arms and didn't speak for a moment. Then her face softened and she said, "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that. You saved me again."

Sighing, Setsuna stood up and pulled her up. With one fluid movement, he picked her up bridal style. "Come on, you can't walk like this. You live in the girls' dorms at the Academy right?"

"2nd floor with Asuna, east wing room 10" Konoka nodded. She looked at him, "You don't seriously mean to carry me all the way there are you?"

Purposely avoiding her eyes, Setsuna adjusted his hold on her and went down the sidewalk that led to the dorms in silence. It didn't last long because when he started to get tired at the school entrance Konoka nudged him.

"You can put me down. I'll hobble the rest of the way."

"No, I….can…do it," Setsuna wheezed.  
"No you can't," Konoka said.

"Yes…I…can."

"…Fine if you're going to be stubborn about it."  
Glancing down at her, he opened his mouth to say something then she kissed him on the cheek. Setsuna felt like he'd been smacked silly with the back end of a boken. Konoka jumped out of his arms, limping towards the dorms.  
"O-oi wait," Setsuna caught up to her, taking her arm. "Fine ok, at least let me help you."

"Just don't push yourself Set-kun," Konoka shot him one of her smiles which started to make him jittery inside, like butterflies were flapping around.

Leaning against him, Konoka rested her head on his shoulder while Setsuna supported her up the stair-case. There were a good number of students milling about so when he entered the dormitories with Konoka, there was an outbreak of hushed whispers and gawking. Setsuna figured it must've been because he was a guy.

"Konoka!" Asuna came rushing down the stair-case towards them in her school uniform, pig-tails flying everywhere. "….What's going on?"

"We had an accident. Konoka-san sprained her ankle so it'd be wise to take her to the sick bay to get it looked at," Setsuna explained.

"Ah jeeze Konoka, I thought I was the one that was meant to be clumsy. Thanks for bringing her Setsuna-san I'll take over from here," Asuna said, wincing.

"Be careful please," Setsuna watched Konoka closely as Asuna put the brunette's arm around her shoulder and another around her waist.

"Don't worry, she's safe with me and why are you so worried. Don't tell me you two are an item now?" Asuna's grin reminded her of a hyena's. A hyena that was about to attack its prey.

Turning on his heel, Setsuna cleared his throat, "Don't be ridiculous I was just being a gentleman. Good day to you."  
Stiffly, he walked away but as he did Asuna called out, "Hey, we're going down to that new ice-skating rink that opened down-town next Monday after school! Meet us at the bus-stop at five if you wanna come ok? We can make it a double date!"

"Asuna!" Konoka cried out.

Going beet red Setsuna high tailed it out there as fast as he could, straight to the boys' dorms on the other side of the school and to his room. Wrenching open the door, he jerked it open and rushed inside, slamming it shut with so much force the things on the desk nearby rattled and moved a few centimetres.

"Where's the fire?"  
Setsuna's head snapped so fast she felt himself getting whiplash. Mana was lounging on his bed in a pair of shorts and a singlet, gazing up at the ceiling and polishing one of his prized guns.  
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Setsuna said.

Looking at him, the gunslinger continued, "You might want to keep a check on Tsukuyomi. She's jumping to conclusions about you and your relationship with the Konoe girl. She barged in here not too long ago asking to burrow one of my guns so she could go…what was it, anyone-who-touches-my-Secchan will die hunting."

"You didn't actually let her…" Setsuna paled.  
"Of course not, that's stupid."

Sighing in relief, Setsuna threw his backpack on the floor and flopped onto his bed mulling over Asuna's words. Something vibrated in his jacket pocket, his phone. Fishing it out, he clicked it open. It was a message. Curious, he opened it and nearly fell out of his bed. It was from Konoka who had sent her the date, time and place of their 'date' for next week. Setsuna stared at it for a very long time before being able to form a coherent thought.

_We're a couple. _


	5. Steampunk Rock

Notes: To all, I'm sorry but the one-shot of Mr Wonderful ends with the second chapter. I initially only planned for it to be a one-shot but due to requests I made it a two-shot. Anyway, that is basically how they got together. If any of you are interested in continuing that story feel free, I'll be glad to read it :D. I'm working on a few other things besides this fic atm so Mr wonderful could be a possible story to under-take in the future. In the mean time, sit back, relax and enjoy the ride because there's plenty more surprises in the future ;3

Steam-Punk Rock

Chaos reigned over the rail-way lines. All the trains had broken down. Sure these days trains couldn't really be trusted what with all the cyber vehicles on the market like those flying skate-boards and hover bikes but those were for teenage punks and hooligans. In the central train station that composed of 10 rustic plat-forms, it usually carried the wealthy socialites and elites of the world across the maze of criss-crossing rail-ways suspended in the sky towards the sprawling cityscape of hovering buildings, towering sky-scrapers and towers. Today though someone had tampered with the main control unit and short-circuited all the systems, delaying everything. The technicians had been working on it non-stop for the entire morning and had made progress only in the last hour. It turned out that whoever had hacked the unit was pretty damn good. They were in the process of hooking up all the wires back into place and once the wheels had been double-checked for damage they were good to go.

Checking the wheels of the train on platform number three, was one worker, a scruffy teenage girl wearing a cat-eared yellow hard hat and leather gloves and boots with a white shirt, skinny jeans, a beige jacket with a belt and blue over-alls. The rest were young boys. Just then one of the trains gave a groan but stopped just as quickly. Someone cursed and the worker at the train made a cutting motion across his neck, signalling at the people in the control room set up in the offices set up along beams high above them that it was irreparable. The girl continued to work, going down the line and examining the tyres, that was until something sharp and pointy hit her in the head. Rubbing the spot where it'd hit, she looked down and saw it was a brooch in the shape of a white wing.

"What the..." She muttered, picking it up. Turning around she climbed up the steel bars hammered into the inside of the wall, creating a ladder and up onto the platform.

In the mass of people she heard a high-pitched voice screaming a string of swear words that would make any foul-mouthed cyber punk proud. Then someone crashed into her sending them both tumbling to the floor.

"Ayaka you idiot look where you're going next time! Especially when you're carrying someone else's most cherished item, geeze!" Someone else cried out, exasperated.

It was a girl with orange hair and long pigtails tied up with small bells, dashing up to her. She flashed an apologetic grin at her and with a start she realized the girl had one blue eye and one green eye. The one who'd crashed into her looked to be an aristocrat, blonde-haired, regal and elegant with clothes that spoke of noble heritage as opposed to the redhead who looked rougher with her bandana, knee length boots, patched hat and those skulls on her striped shirt and tattered vest.

"No problem," Setsuna muttered as the blonde scrambled off her, apologizing hastily.

"I WAS looking where I was going, you clumsy ape. You're the one who ran too fast and hit me," Ayaka, the blonde, accused dramatically, pointing her finger at the red-head.

"Yeah...well, you ran damn fast you know and did you really have to swear so much? I think you scarred those poor kids back there for life."  
"What does that have to do with anything you buffoon? May I remind you that _you _were the one who made me plough into that horrendous machine!"

Rolling her eyes, Asuna shot back, "Do you always have to make everything so dramatic? It was just a freaking ATM. If you hadn't pressed that button..."

"It was an accident! Sometimes I wonder why I hang out with you when all you do is-"

"Um...excuse me-" Setsuna interrupted, holding out the brooch.

As one, the two snapped their attention towards her. Their heads whipped around so fast it was scary. What scared her more was that they'd done it in sync. Freaky.

"What?" They snapped together.

Cringing, Setsuna said nervously, "Does this belong to any of you?"

"Ah...no that belongs to..." The red-head trailed off, looking around. "Where'd she... oh there she is. The one in the skirt and blouse with brown hair and eyes wearing the cat tail by the vending machine her name's Konoka."

With some hesitation, she made her way through the crowd towards the aforementioned girl. Unfortunately there were about five girls with brown hair and skirts all milling around the vending machine with cat tails. Hanging back, she scanned the crowd for one with brown eyes as they started to walk away, chattering to each other and laughing. Not a single of them fit the description and Setsuna glimpsed a brown eye as the girl turned her head to check her satchel for money. Setsuna made her way towards the remaining girl, sidling past people and making sure not to step on anyone's feet. When she reached her the girl was busy selecting between what sounded like pocky sticks or colourful candy and having a hard time figuring out which one she wanted.

Tapping her on the shoulder, Setsuna began, "Excuse me but-"

The girl jumped and spun around so fast the satchel she was carrying flew upwards and hit her in the face.

"Ah! I'm sorry, I'm sorry I didn't see you! Are you ok?" The girl looked at her anxiously, searching for any signs of damage.

"Yeah," She nodded, eyes watering and holding her nose. What was this girl carrying in there, bricks? "Anyway...I believe one of your friends dropped this. You're Konoka right?"

"Oh my gosh, thank you so much I would've been so worried if I'd have lost this," Konoka hugged her, taking the brooch and pinning it to one of the pockets of her jacket.

Stiffening, she rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment and mumbled, "Y-yeah..."

"I like your hair by the way, it's cool," Konoka said brightly.

"R-really you think?" Setsuna blushed slightly, tugging at her hair self-consciously. It was usually tied up in sideways ponytail on the left, the ends layered in spikes while the right side of her hair was fanned out in the same fashion, a few strands jutting out every which way.  
Just then the trains gave a roar that sounded like gargoyles coming to life and an announcement over the system declared the trains were fixed, generating whoops and cheers. As the announcer declared that all personnel remove themselves from the trains and move back onto the platforms, the red-head was there all of a sudden, grabbing Konoka's hand.

"C'mon or we're gonna miss it!" She grinned at her when she saw she was there, giving her a thumbs-up. "Thanks for the save Shorty, we owe you one!"  
"Wait, what's your name?" Konoka called out to her before she was dragged away.

"Setsuna."

"Thank you then Setsuna-san, I'll be sure to look out for you next time!" Konoka smiled at her and then she vanished along the throng of rushing people into the train on the left side of the platform with the two girls from before.

With belches from the pipes, the coal trains groaned into a start then began to rumble out of the station leaving Setsuna and the rest of the personnel the only ones on the platform. Watching the train disappear into the distance out of the station, she didn't tear her eyes away until it was a speck. That smile had been so beautiful.


	6. Pop Sensation

A/N: Thank you to all who's reviewed so far. Interwebz cookie for anyone who can tell me the song name and singer of the song that features in the following one-shot :3. And to answer Snoozy's question, yes this is generally a series of one-shots although I do have a few surprises for you guys down the track so keep your eyes open ;D.

Pop Sensation

As the door closed shut behind the young man, Asuna leapt from her seat and cried out in frustration, "Oh come on Konoka, that guy was good!"

"Not good enough," Konoka said flatly.

Throwing her hands up in the air, the red-head flopped back down in her chair and stared up at the ceiling of the room. They'd been at it the entire day already. Asuna had no idea what her fellow band member was looking for but it'd better be something really damn special to pass those dozen or so other guys and girls that had come through for auditions. Ayaka walked in through the door, holding a cup of coffee. As usual, the blonde was dressed to kill, this time in an immaculate business suit and and heels that could gouge some poor schmuck's eyes out. She was the business manager of their little band and thus was over-seeing this whole process-just for today. It was the last day to find a replacement guitarist and they were running out of time to finalize the people for call-backs. In fact they had only something like five minutes left.

Glancing over her shoulder at someone, she said, "You know Konoka-san that one would've fitted in well with the group."  
"He was too shy," Konoka shook her head, looking slightly irritated.

Rolling her eyes, Mana, the second guitarist, who was recoiling on a chair and propping it up against the wall with the legs up, commented, "Well if you two hadn't been glaring at him the entire time he was performing..."  
"Oh come off it, like you weren't?" Asuna snapped. "And anyway, what else were we supposed to do? He was totally perving on us!"

"Anyway, he just wasn't what we were looking for," Konoka said.

"Well if you people would stop arguing for a moment you'll find that we have one more participant left," Ayaka said loudly, checking the sheet of names on the table in front of Konoka which she had flipped back to the front.

"She'd better be the one," Asuna grumbled.

"Hmm, this participant was number 1000. She was meant to have been here much, much earlier," Ayaka mused.

"Strange, why didn't you tick her name off before?" Konoka said.

Shrugging, Ayaka sipped the rest of her coffee, "I guess I overlooked it, an error on my part which won't happen again."

"Right so are we waiting for this guy or girl?" Mana asked.

"Let me have to look outside," Ayaka disappeared out the door and came back in a few minutes later. "Seems to be no one there, let's pack up then."  
Disappointed, Konoka sighed, "That isn't fair. For all we know this person could've been the one."

"Ah well," Asuna stood up, stretching.

Just then someone burst into the room, practically crashing through the open door.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry I'm late, please forgive me! We had an emergency at home!" It was a girl, around 17 years old. She had raven black hair tied to the left in an odd pony-tail and her hair spiked out on her right at her fringe.  
"I'm sorry but auditions are closed," Ayaka said, giving the girl a regretful look.

"Oh, well I suppose I figured as much..." Her face fell.

"Wait Ayaka, maybe we should give her a chance," Konoka suggested, inspecting the girl.

She looked around their age, dressed in jeans with a corduroy dark brown jacket covering a white unbuttoned shirt, the collars upturned so they nearly touched her chin. She wore a beige top underneath and a pair of camouflage green boots. Strapped over her shoulder was a dark blue guitar. A sky blue scarf covered her neck but what interested Konoka the most were her eyes. They were a startling shade of the lightest blue she'd ever seen, calm, earnest and piercing.

"Why not," Mana's low drawl came. She hadn't moved from her spot and was regarding the late arrival with vague interest.

"I say we give her a shot," Asuna was standing, an encouraging look on her face.

Disgruntled, Ayaka nodded. "Oh alright, go stand in front of that microphone please."  
Looking visibly relieved, the girl did as ordered, positioning herself in front of the microphone stand set up in the centre of the room.

"Can you tell us your name?" Ayaka questioned, taking a seat next to Konoka and picking up the pen.

"Sakurazaki Setsuna," She spoke in a clear, confident voice, a quiet strength in the under-current. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Mana straighten, renewed interest in her eyes. Asuna stopped tapping her fingers on the arm of her chair.

"I see," Ayaka clasped her fingers together, surveying the young girl before her. "Well Sakurazaki-san, whenever you're ready."  
As she adjusted her fingers on the strings and raising her pick to strum, Konoka noticed the slight tremble in her hands.

"It's alright Sakurazaki-san, take your time," Konoka smiled at her.

She seemed to relax slightly, a nervous smile flashing across her face. The first few notes wavered slightly but after that she seemed to get into a rhythm.

"When you ask me...who I am, what is my vision, do I have a plan? Where is my strength? Have I nothing to say? I hear the words in my head, but I push them away," Her voice was strong, a little husky but as she continued into the chorus, grew more in conviction and she could hear the richness of it, a beautiful smooth velvet. "Cause I stand for the power to change, I live for the perfect day, I love til it hurts like crazy, I hope for a hero to save me, I stand for the strange and lonely I believe there's a better place. I don't know if the sky is heaven but I pray anyway."

Konoka found herself singing along silently, swaying in soulful tune as she launched into the second verse. At the end of the verse, when she launched back into the chorus, Konoka wondered why there was that flicker of pain in her eyes. But then she closed them, her voice rising as she went into the third verse.

"With the slightest of breezes we fall just like leaves. As the rain washes us from the ground we forget who we are we can't see in the dark and we quickly get lost in the crowd," She paused then belted out the chorus again. Even as she was killing the last note, Asuna and Ayaka had jumped to their feet, applauding her.

"That's who we need right there!" Asuna yelled, pointing at her with her drumsticks that she'd carried to the studio.

Looking embarrassed, Setsuna just smiled uncertainly.

"Yes! You're perfect! Although...I have to say, we may have to do something about that natural shyness of yours," Ayaka rubbed her chin in thought, her eyes gleaming. "Konoka-san, what do you say?"

"Oh um, I suppose she'll do," Konoka mumbled, glancing away as Setsuna caught her staring at her.

"Her shyness could be an advantage," Mana offered lazily. "I mean, don't we need a shy yet strong, sensitive good-looking but oh so mysterious member in this band since Akira left?"

"Brilliance sheer genius!" Asuna exclaimed.

"Hmm well I suppose since Mana-san is more the sarcastic, beautiful one, Asuna-sun is the aggressive tom-boy, Konoka-san is the cute, bubbly...ow! Hey what was that for?" Ayaka yelped as Asuna threw one of her drumsticks at her.

"I'm not aggressive! And seriously, why are you acting like you're so much older than us? You're only two years our senior!" Asuna protested.

Gritting her teeth, Ayaka glared at her. "May I remind you Asuna-san that it's my family who're behind the production of your band..."

"Yeah but you're only like a temp manager until your uncle hands the reigns over," Asuna snickered.

"Why you...!"  
"Uh let's not fight now. We don't want to scare off Setsuna-san," Konoka said quickly as Setsuna looked from one to the other, perplexed and cautious.

"You are the famous international pop singer Konoe Konoka right?" Setsuna asked hesitantly.

Before Konoka could answer Ayaka declared dramatically, "Why of course Setsuna-san! And you are as of now officially the lead guitarist in this band!"  
"Oi, you have to wait until your uncle comes back tomorrow for all this to be official you know. You're not the manager yet," Asuna said.

"Nonsense, he heard it through the speaker-phone," Ayaka waved her hand. As Asuna gaped at her, she crossed over to Setsuna, extending her hand. "Yukihiro Ayaka, manager of Konoe Konoka. Welcome Setsuna-san. You'll meet the rest of the band later this week. We'll give you a call."  
As the blonde escorted the poor befuddled girl out, Konoka locked eyes with her for just a moment. She felt something like a spark flare to life inside her heart.


	7. Guardians and Princesses

AN: As pointed out by Shrodeddrknss13 I am sorry if this seems confusing but there is a point to all this. This was to put it simply supposed to be a series of one-shots that just chronicled the many, many alternate realities where Setsuna and Konoka would always find each other, not necessarily meaning that there would be a connection between the current life and the previous one, or the current one and the next one. That is all, nothing more nothing less. I apologize to anyone who's come from this feeling otherwise. That was not my intention.

However, due to Shroded's astute observations I will try to do something about that. In the mean-time please enjoy this next instalment.

And yes, the singer was Idina Menzel and the song was 'I Stand'. Grats worldismine and Snoozy! –hands out cookies ]-

And apologies again to all, I haven't been a very good editor since I was in a rush to get the previous one-shot out. I didn't realize all the words were strung together. That will change from now on.

Guardians and Princesses

Setsuna thought she must've been dreaming or she'd been hit in the head with one of the glasses and she'd been knocked out and was hallucinating. As she stared at the young heiress in front of her who was waving the now empty wine glass around and babbling something she couldn't quite make out, she poked the girl in the cheek to see if she wasn't dreaming. No, Konoka Konoe, the internationally famous, _gorgeous_ daughter of the founder of one of the largest performing theatre groups in the world was really sitting before her, an ordinary mere mortal. When she didn't disappear or fade away Setsuna just blinked and rubbed the inside of her ears with one of her fingers to make sure it was her she was really listening to. Asuna, who was cleaning the table near-by, shot her a questioning look. Setsuna shrugged.

It was actually after-hours and they'd been close to closing but the heiress had thrown about 100 000 yen on the table. While she wasn't one to take advantage of people like that the manager Evangeline had ordered her to 'serve her whatever the hell she wanted'. That was one hour ago and so far she'd guzzled down about 20 tall glasses of sake, two tall glasses of vodkas and five beers all in glasses that Setsuna had estimated was three glasses too much her body weight. She was on her sixth beer and when she slammed the glass down so hard the beer inside splashed out of it and spilled everywhere onto the counter. Setsuna was surprised that the glass hadn't shattered on impact.

"Lemmmme tell chuu I'm soooo ficking sick of this crap, everyone thinkins Im such a gud gurl. I can be bad too! I snuck out here wifout my stupid bodyguards!" She slurred. Squinting at Setsuna, she reached forwards and grabbed a fistful of the front of her shirt and jerked her towards her. She mumbled, "Why ish my glash em..em...you know I don't like it without stuff in it!"

"Um, ojousama I have to cut you off. Now will you please let go of me?" Setsuna said, trying to go for a placating tone. She eyed the heiress apprehensively as the aforementioned girl raised her glass like she was about to smash it over Setsuna's head.

It wouldn't be the first time Setsuna had to deal with drunken behaviour but it was the first time she'd been directly on the receiving end of it. Laughing, Konoka suddenly let go of her and threw the glass into the air-and the remaining alcohol inside it. Crying out, Setsuna lunged over the counter, arms outstretched for the glass. She caught it just by the stem in between two of her fingers before it hit the wood and breathed a huge sigh of relief. That was all she needed, more pay deducted from her what with the glasses that Konoka had already thrown not too long ago. Her customer spun around on the bar stool, her purse swinging wildly and nearly smacking Setsuna in the head. She slid off and promptly landed in a messy heap on the ground.

"Ah geeze, oi Setsuna why didn't you cut her off?" Asuna groaned as she saw the heiress struggle to stand up then fall flat on her face.

"I tried. She kept on throwing glasses at me," Setsuna deadpanned, pointing over her shoulder at a large pile of broken glass lying around the floor in nice sharp pieces.

"...We should get that cleaned up," Asuna said after a moment. She cast a side glance at Konoka who seemed to be content with lying on the ground. Shaking her head she muttered, "I still can't believe she drank that much."

Silently Setsuna agreed. Although a larger part of her was still getting over the fact that she was here out of all places in Tokyo. The seedy nightclub slash bar she worked in wasn't exactly popular in the elite, high class circles of society but for the shady, dodgy and those that dealt with suspicious business, it was a haven.

"Um...I think she's dead," Asuna announced. She'd knelt down and was inspecting Konoka curiously, checking her pulse.

Setsuna practically screamed, "What?"

"Just kidding, she's just passed out for the moment," Asuna said cheerfully.

Glaring at Asuna who grinned at her, Setsuna went around the counter and over to Konoka.

"Ojousama, can you hear me?" Setsuna asked, squatting down beside her.

There was a grumble but then she just rolled over and mumbled something.

"Don't tell me..." Setsuna started, staring at her.

Asuna scratched her head, grimacing, "Well this is bad."

"W-what are you crazy? This is horrible! Konoe Konoka is passed out here on our floor...oh god, what if she drank too much? We killed her!" Setsuna cried.

"Calm down!" Asuna leapt to her feet and grabbed her smaller friend's shoulders. "Look I have an idea. Why don't you take her to our apartment for the night? Take the car and I'll call you later so you can come get me."

"Are you telling me to kidnap her?" Setsuna all but yelled.

"Hey, keep it down! It's not like we can figure out which hotel or whatever place she's living in anyway with her passed out," Asuna shushed.

Considering, Setsuna gave in and she was half-way regretting it when she'd gotten into the driver's seat of the car. In her haste she hadn't put on Konoka's seat-belt properly so the brunette had slumped over and for some reason burst out in a fit of high-pitched laughter. It wouldn't have been bad but it'd happened exactly when Setsuna had her foot on the accelerator. Scared out of her wits, she floored it and nearly rammed into a street-light. Swerving to the left, she braked hard and came to a screeching halt in the middle of the road. Breathing heavily and white-knuckled, she glanced at Konoka and heaved a huge sigh of relief. She was ok and the apartment was just one street away. They could've made it safely if it hadn't been for the impromptu cuddle. While she was driving-slowly this time, Konoka decided to use Setsuna's shoulder as a nice fluffy pillow. When she discovered her pillow resisting, she only hugged on tighter like an octopus. And when her pillow squirmed she shifted again, pushing herself up against it and effectively blocking out half Setsuna's vision.

It was a good thing she was at the pay-ticket machine for the under-ground parking. Wasn't such a good thing though when Konoka didn't let her pay her ticket and somehow managed to get her feet over Setsuna's, making her step on the pedal and crash into the bar that usually prevented cars from going in and out. After backing up and driving forwards multiple times, Setsuna managed to swipe the machine. After that she had to literally carry and drag Konoka up three flights of stairs as luck would have it, the lifts had broken down. Judging by her protests she didn't want to move.

"Hold on, ojou-sama, if you'd just please stop squirming," Setsuna pleaded as she reached the door of the room she and Asuna shared. She'd just decided to carry her over her shoulder and pray that no one came out to inspect all the noise they were making.

One of Konoka's flailing hands found her face, clipping her on the eye. Setsuna dropped the keys she'd been fumbling with. Crying out, one eye twitching, Setsuna dropped Konoka on her butt who decided to make a break for it then and there. Setsuna managed to catch her arm and had to snatch the keys with the other and try to open the door while keeping Konoka from running away and possibly breaking every bone in her body from falling down the stairs. Finally jamming the keys inside the keyhole, she twisted and pushed open the door with her shoulder.

"Ojou-sama, we're..." Setsuna trailed off as she realized the heiress was curled up in a ball asleep. She gently picked her up bridal style and laid her down on the bed where she rolled over onto her side.

Setsuna settled for the couch in the tiny living room combined kitchen area. They only had enough to pay for one room and two beds and she wasn't too comfortable with the idea of sleeping with a stranger nor did she think Konoka would fit onto Asuna's bed because they were so small. Asuna's feet actually dangled over the edge of the bed. Slipping on her pyjamas she yawned and stretched. It was way too late, 3 in the morning judging by the digital clock on the mini dressing table in between the beds. Setsuna paused at the bedroom door as she realized how much alcohol Konoka had been drinking. She was also mumbling something about Shinmeiryu swordsmen, singing and horses and flailing her arms around wildly. Setsuna shook her head, amused. Girl must have one hell of an imagination. Weighing her sanity against her concern, she swallowed and sat on the floor opposite Konoka, arms around her knees and leaning her head back.

This was going to be a long night.


	8. Drama Kings and Princesses

A/N: Worldismine, am I getting a fan in you? xD.

Anyway, getting close to the first interlude. In the meantime hope everyone enjoys this next chapter. Yay for fluff and light-heartedness :3

Drama Kings and Queens

"Hey Konoka, come on! It's starting already!" Haruna called, waving her over from the gathering of people.

"Alright, come on Makie-san!" Konoka pulled the girl from the stuffed toy stand they'd been browsing through and over to where Haruna, Nodoka and Yue were with the rest of the crowd.

It was the grand re-opening of Cinema Town and to celebrate, a mock fight was scheduled to commence right in the middle of the amusement park. People were standing on the pavement behind roped stands that had been sey up to prevent people from spilling out onto the streets. She was looking around eagerly, chatting and some of the more restless ones were faking martial arts moves with their friends.

"So Yue-echi, what's the show going to be about?" Haruna asked, grinning and resting her arms and chin on the shorter girl's shoulders to read the program schedule she was holding.

"Well it says that it's about a princess who's travelling back to her castle but she's attacked by a mercenary swordswoman who wants to kidnap the princess," Yue responded.

"That sounds like fun," Makie said brightly.

"Sounds a bit cliché," Yue remarked, folding up the paper.

"Aw don't be like that Yue, I'm sure it'll be fun," Konoka smiled.

Before they could say anything there was a clip clopping of hooves on the cobblestone and the whinnying of horses. Excited shouts filled the air followed by scattered clapping. People jostled to the front to see, bumping each other. Konoka was pushed to the front. There was a horse-drawn carriage going down the street at a steady slow pace, the driver a young boy with tied up spiky red hair. Walking alongside on the left were two people and as the carriage turned the corner of the street, she saw another two on the right.

"Be alert, Setsuna-san, the princess is in grave danger. It's barely even safe for us to be travelling through these parts," The taller of the pair on the left said, a tall girl with extremely long pig-tails tied up with bells. She was shouldering a massive sword that was at least twice her height.

"Indeed, Asuna-san."  
Her companion's voice was quiet but now that the audience had settled down, it carried through the air clear and distinct. They were both wearing a blue shinsei and dark blue hakama over protective traditional samurai armour and padding but Setsuna was the only one who had a head-band tied around her head, a unique ponytail on her left that was styled asymmetrically while the hair on her right was splayed outwards in thin, long spikes. In her hand she was carrying a long, thin sword with two tassels tied around the hilt while one shorter one was tied to her waist.

Suddenly the carriage stopped, the boy slowing the horses to a smooth halt. A girl wearing glasses with a floppy hat, scarf and wearing a frilly dress was standing in their path, carrying one long sword in her hand a short sword in the other.

"Who goes there? State your name and business," Setsuna stepped forwards, regarding the girl with suspicion.

Smiling, the girl said, "My name is Tsukuyomi. As for my business..." She flew forwards and swiped at Setsuna who brought up her blade to block faster than Konoka could see. Sparks crackled in the air they met and Setsuna skidded backwards. "I just want to battle with you!"

"Everyone, get the princess out of here!" Setsuna yelled as Tsukuyomi charged at her again. The two traded blows as the horses whinnied, going frantic.

Attempting to calm the horses as they snorted and moved, the boy cried out, "O-of course!"

"It's getting good isn't it huh," Haruna elbowed Yue, excited. They had managed to squeeze in beside Konoka.

"Don't give up!" Makie cried out, looking at Setsuna.

Tsukuyomi flew backwards as Setsuna sprang backwards into the air and struck the air in a downwards strike. "Shinmeiryu Ougi Zetsutsu!"  
Tsukuyomi bounced twice on the cobblestone and when she got up there was fake blood on her chest. Grinning at her, the swordswoman cooed, "Very good senpai! It's nice to see that there's someone as talented as you in the upper ranks!"

Just then a voice boomed, "Guardsmen of princess Sayo! I have the princess in my sights. Do not move or I will shoot her!"  
A girl with green hair stood on the roof-top of the imperial house nearby-an arrow notched in a bow. Beside her stood a young boy with fake wolf ears, a fake wolf tail and golden eyes and long fingernails. Someone leapt up onto the roof-top to face the girl. It was one of the other guards, a girl even taller than Asuna with a long pony-tail.

Spreading her arms to block her, she announced, "I, Nagase Kaede, will never allow you to harm our princess!"  
Scattered applause and cheers broke out over the audience. The boy smirked, sliding into attacking pose.

"Then you will die!" He lunged at her, slashing.

A dozen other clones of her appeared in the air. Gasps filled the audience and someone whooped, "Great special effects!" The boy slashed through thin air. Eyes widening, he landed on the gutter of the roof-top and spun around. Kaede threw a gigantic kunochi at him which he dodged. It slammed into the ground near the carriage. The boy had jumped down from the carriage and was in the process of disentangling the reins from the horses.

"Asuna-san, get the princess out of here!" Setsuna bellowed, parrying with Tsukuyomi. Tsukuyomi ducked to the side and swung her sword in an arc, meeting her opponent's blade with her own.

An explosion filled the air and Setsuna was hurled backwards, using her hand to lessen the impact. She landed near Konoka in a half-crouch. For some reason unknown to Konoka even though she knew it was fake she found the blood that had appeared on her arm unsettling. Setsuna paused, catching her eye. Just then someone shouted and the earth shook, splitting open a gouge in the cobblestone right underneath the horses. The horses were going wild. Backing away, the boy looked scared and Konoka was sure this wasn't part of the plan.

As the horses lashed out and kicked the carriage, it toppled over. Someone screamed from the inside. Setsuna dashed towards the horses, pushing the boy out of the way and grabbing for the reins which were flying everywhere.

"Negi!" The wolf-boy was clambering down from the roof-top as the horses reared, front hooves raking the air.

One of the performers, a blonde girl with spiky buns, ran to the horses after she had helped the performer playing the princess in the carriage climb out but it was too late. The horses broke free of their reins and galloped straight for the crowd. Screaming, everyone fled as it broke through the rope. Konoka tripped, falling onto the gravel with a cry. Turning over she saw one of the horses rearing right above her, its front hooves about to crush her at any moment.

"Konoka-san!" Nodoka screamed.

Someone pushed her out of the way, sending her rolling across the ground. She could feel concrete biting her skin. Terrified screams ripped through the air and there was a bone-shattering crash. Nodoka was at her side, helping her up. Konoka saw the horse whooping wildly and underneath was the performer Setsuna was lying on her side on the ground, covering her head as its hooves just barely missed crushing her. One of the other performers, Kaede, was on them in an instant, taking the reins and speaking softly to them and patting them.

"Konoka-san, are you ok?" Nodoka asked.

"Y-yeah," Konoka nodded, shaken. Her eyes were on Setsuna who had nearly been crushed to death. She'd never felt so terrified in her life. She watched Setsuna open her eyes, removing her hands from her head and look around in confusion. Her fellow performer flashed her thumbs up. Looking relieved, Setsuna climbed out from under the horse. She still seemed to be looking for something. Apparently it was her. Setsuna's face brightened, the relief becoming even more pronounced when she saw her.

She crossed over to her and asked, concerned, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, um are you?" Konoka played with her fingers, suddenly feeling shy.

"Well I'm not dead so I suppose that means I'm fine. That was close, you were nearly trampled," Setsuna chuckled, smiling.

"Speak for yourself!" Konoka said, hiding a smile. "Thank you Setsuna-san."

Bowing, Setsuna went back to where the carriage was and where Kaede was leading the horses back. Asuna was speaking to the shaken crowd who had tentatively, after seeing the danger was over. The rest of the performers were recovering and moving towards Asuna to gather in a group.

"Uh sorry about that folks, we promise that won't happen ever again but due to technical difficulties we can't continue. One of the rigged explosions got too close to the horses," Asuna said sheepishly. "We were hoping to put on a great, fun show for you all today but I guess maybe it was a little too fun."

A few people laughed nervously.

"Anyway, please give it up for the debut show of the performers from Kyoto High School! Playing our body-guards, Ku-Fei! Nagase Kaede! Sakurazaki Setsuna! And even though you didn't get to see her, our leading lady princess Aisaka Sayo!"

Only Ku Fei and Sayo bowed. Kaede and Setsuna were busy inspecting the carriage and making sure the horses wouldn't go on a rampage again. Though Konoka noticed Setsuna give a brief smile in the audience's direction.

"And playing the roles of villains Inugami Kotarou, Hideki Tsukuyomi and Murakami Natsumi!"

The wolf-boy puffed his chest out, looking happy while the green-haired girl gave a shy smile at the applause. Tsukuyomi's attention seemed to be focused on Setsuna.

"Oh, hey I almost forgot, this cute guy here who played the driver is Negi Springfield," Asuna laughed as the boy glared at her. "Everyone, please give us your support!"

Just then someone called out, "Sakurazaki-san! She saved that young girl from being killed!"  
Setsuna jerked, looking surprised at being called out but looked pleased never the less. Soon the crowd started cheering her name. Grinning, Kaede gave her a light push. She blushed, which Konoka found adorable and shuffled up to stand beside Asuna. Setsuna's eyes caught hers and she blushed even harder. And that was when Konoka felt all warm and gooey inside. This seemed like déjà-vu.


	9. Carpe Diem

Carpe Diem

She passed the park every day. It wasn't that she wanted to even though she thought the park was a very peaceful, nice place to hang out but she needed the exercise. Staying at home cooped up all alone wasn't fun at all, especially when you have to do it in a wheel-chair. Every time she passed though she would always stop to watch one bird that came to feed on worms near the pond-a small white crow with light blue eyes that reminded her of the sea, tranquil and peaceful. She pitied it though as every time the crow would be picked on by its fellow crows. She guessed it was for being white instead of the usual black and it was the smallest one. It would get shunted aside when it was feeding time or out of her perch in a tree because it was smaller than the rest. Today, the other crows were blocking it from getting food, pushing it out or flapping at it. One of the other crows snapped at it, scratching at its eyes. Retreating, it cawed angrily and tackled the crow but then a few other crows surrounded it, scratching and slashing at it with wicked claws. She tried to move but her father had pulled out the safety on the wheel-chair while he was sitting on the bench and reading a newspaper. A flurry of feathers swirled in the air and when it screeched painfully Konoka searched for a rock or pebble to throw. Swiping one from nearby, she picked it up and heaved at the mob.

They scattered, taking to the air and screeching furiously at her. The white crow was lying on the ground, bleeding from its left wing. The crows circled above her once then after a moment flew to a nearby tree, watching her with beady red eyes. The white crow flapped upwards, righting itself and hobbled over to the hole where the worms came from. It dipped its beak inside and in a few seconds, pulled out a juicy fat worm. Swallowing it, the crow launched itself into the air but it was flying strangely. It flew in a straight line then suddenly veered to the left, angling downwards in a steep dive towards Konoka.

Catching it in her hands, she whispered, "Go on Secchan try again."

The crow seemed to like the name, something which she hadn't had the courage to call her until today as she'd only been watching her from afar in her wheelchair. It spread its wings and pushed off from her hands. She watched it circle the air above the pond a few times. The doctors had said she wouldn't be able to walk again after the accident because of how badly it'd broken in her spine but she refused to believe that. She wouldn't give up on life, never no matter what anyone said to her. Just like the crow, she wanted to battle the odds. When she watched the crow it gave her the courage and strength to think of it. And most of all, it gave her a reason to wake up every morning, to live and dream about the impossible. Konoka raised her hand, shielding her eyes as she saw something glimmer in the morning sunlight around the crow's feet. It looked like a piece of red string. Following its path, she saw it tied around her finger, connecting them both. Konoka rubbed her eyes in astonishment, passing her hand through it. It shimmered and disappeared out of sight.

A.N: Yosh! We're nearing halfway point now people. I know this is short but well, it's quite a simple one shot. Hope you all liked it. Next one shot is going to be my first surprise and in answer to worldismine, well that will be answered in due time ;3 but in the meantime I can guarantee that four others excluding this one will not revolve around them meeting each other. Here's a preview of what's to come:

[i]"Wait no, you can't be asking me to do this! I'm not leaving you. You're...you're my..."[/i]

[i]"I love you Konochan I love you with all my heart, soul everything that I have and that is why I will always find you no matter what. No matter where we are we'll find each other because that's a promise"[/i]


	10. Interlude: Promises

Promises

She was hanging on for dear life, her fingers gripping the ledge of the window-sill like claws. Inside, the fire roared, lashing out in tongues out of the windows of the apartment. As the window two rooms across from her exploded, a ball of fire erupting from the room, she heard someone call on the megaphone above her to hold on tight. Konoka swallowed, tears stinging her eyes. No need to tell her that. She could feel herself slipping and she didn't dare to look down although looking up might not have been the best thing to do either. Since she lived on the 11th floor of the apartment she could still see half the rooms above her and worst of all, even worse than the flames creeping alongside the walls of the building, she could hear the screams and even children crying above the roar of the flames. The terrifying thing was out of the corner of her eye she saw people falling and at first she thought they'd been pushed or slipped but then she had glanced upwards and saw someone jump. But even worse than that was she didn't know where Setsuna was. They'd been talking on the phone and she'd been getting emergency help getting out of the lifts because the doors were stuck when the gas main had exploded and caused a fire to rip through the floors, destroying everything in its path and Konoka, having been admiring the view at the window, had fallen out of it in her haste to get to Setsuna. She hoped her friend had somehow managed to escape.

As far she could see the lower half of the building was standing but only just. Any minute now and the supports and ruts could collapse on itself. Now she was clinging by the skin of her teeth. As she thought of Setsuna her throat closed and more tears came to her eyes. She'd never see her again, ever. Setsuna was the first friend she'd ever made, her dearest closest most precious and as this year in particular, it'd turned into something more. Now they could read each other's thoughts, decipher the subtlest of expressions from each other and whenever one of them was faking something like happiness, the other could sense it immediately. Whenever Setsuna was angry or something was bothering her Konoka could tell even though no one else in their circle of friends could. She knew how to cheer up her up, what was on her mind. Whenever Konoka tried to act happy even though she was sad Setsuna would comfort her. She saw straight through the façade she put on.

Setsuna would be the first person she went to whenever she was scared. She was the person she felt happiest with. As torrents of water doused the flames near her, she lost her grip. Screaming, she plunged downwards until someone grabbed hold of her wrist. Terrified, she looked up and her heart burst with elation and horror all at once. Setsuna was there, a blanket from her bedroom over her head but she was bleeding from a wound on her head. There were patches of smoke on her face and for the first time Konoka had known her, and this terrified her more than anything else she'd experienced during the last hour, she looked scared. Grunting, she heaved her into the room and draped the blanket she had over her as soon as she hit the floor. There was smoke, fire and broken debris everywhere. Setsuna was trying to something but every-time she spoke she started to cough. Kneeling on one knee on the carpet, she clutched her chest and coughed, her back bent while Konoka thumped it to clear her airways. It was a horrible sound that Konoka didn't like. Konoka thought she was crying because tears streamed down her face making trails on her cheeks but then she realized she was doing the same thing. They might not make it.

Pointing to the door, Setsuna grabbed her around the shoulders and dragged her to her feet. Paint peeled from the walls and ceiling as the fire got wilder and Konoka found it harder and harder to breathe as they weaved their way through the fire, trying to avoid the flames. The smoke was making her cough and making things really hard to see. Then Setsuna pushed her head down, telling her to breathe closer to the ground and she found it easier. She kicked open the door and Konoka heard something break with a piercing crack like a whip then swearing. That wasn't the door. Setsuna pushed her out with a clumsy shove, making her stumble and dropped to the floor beside her. She was coughing even worse, her body shuddering with each cough. Konoka reached out, taking her hand and squeezed it. Shaking her head, Setsuna struggled to her feet but cried out, falling back on the floor, her hand on her ankle. A bone was sticking out.

Konoka's face turned even whiter than it already was but Setsuna gave her a shaky brave smile and rose to her feet using the wall as support, pulling Konoka up with her. Looping Setsuna's arm around hers, she looked around, mouthing to Setsuna where to go.

Flames barred their way from every angle but Setsuna choked out, "The side stairs. We need to jump."

As Konoka steeled herself, wading through the rubble and debris that littered the corridor, she saw that the door to the side stair-well was half-burnt but the emergency sprinklers had turned on, drowning out any oncoming flames and drenching them in a minute. The steps were crumbling, pieces of rock breaking off so she leaned against the wall. When she was at the half-way down the stairs though she realized why no one was using it. The bottom half had been completely demolished, the gutter hanging half-way down and the walls of the stair-case having been burnt and there was a good ten storey fall to death.

"The tree," Setsuna rasped, leaning against her. Her eyes were on the massive decaying oak tree that was about two feet away from them, its long branches stretching out towards them like a hand.

"But...what, I can't jump that far Secchan," Konoka panicked. Now she was really starting to cry.

"Yes, you can," Setsuna disentangled herself from Konoka, slumping back on the steps.

"What about you?" Konoka stared at her.

"Don't worry about me. I made a promise to you back when we met Konochan remember? I promised I'd keep you safe because you…you're my special princess," Setsuna's face was losing colour. She doubled over suddenly, her hand flying to her chest. Konoka's eyes widened. Blood was pooling out between her fingers.  
"You're hurt!"

"What? No this, this was from earlier. They managed to open the doors just as the explosion reached the lifts and I leapt out in time only…" Setsuna frowned, blinking as blood spilled into her eye from the top of her head and stood up. "Listen you have to jump to that tree and hold on. That's the only way. The lower half of the building is a firestorm."

Konoka held her as the remaining colour drained in her face, "Wait no, you can't be asking me to do this. I'm not leaving you. You're...you're my..."

Setsuna just cupped her cheek, smiling at her. She kissed her and for a moment Konoka was so stunned that she didn't respond then she kissed her back, desire and longing fuelling her.

Setsuna whispered against her lips, "I love you Kono-chan. I love you with all my heart, my soul, everything I have and that is why I will always find you no matter what. No matter where we are, we'll find each other because it's a promise. Remember, it's what you said when we first met and I never break my promises."

"No, what are you doing? Let's wait ok? Look, the fire-fighters are coming see? The fire's been put out and-"

Whatever else Konoka had been about to say was cut off with a yelp as what was left of the stair-case moved, sending her tumbling into Setsuna who caught her. There was a groan as the remaining supports broke and then a screech and suddenly they were falling. Konoka held onto Setsuna but she'd picked her up in her arms and thrown her at the tree. Screaming, she landed on the thickest branch stomach-first. Stars appeared in her vision and pain exploded in her back, her stomach, her shoulders. She didn't know how long she was unconscious for but when she opened her eyes she didn't hear anyone screaming. In fact she didn't hear anything but the sound of gushing water, sirens blaring, shouting and hushed whispers. A ladder was propped up against the branch and someone picked her up gently, placing her over his shoulders. She didn't know who it was or how she'd ended up lying on a stretcher in the back of an ambulance because when she caught sight of the stairwell her mind had shut down completely and all she could see was Setsuna's face before she'd thrown her. It'd caved in completely, nothing left but a bunch of crushed cement, metal and brick. And in that instant she'd known Setsuna was gone because she couldn't feel her...anywhere. She was gone.

_Setsuna watched her sadly, her hand over the bracelet around her wrist. It had pair of wings engraved in it and their names engraved beneath them, a reminder of how much they loved each other. Konoka had gotten it for her on her last birthday as a surprise. She was on her side on the steps, breathing heavily with ragged, pained breaths. Between her fingers she could feel the blood pooling out from the wound she'd hid from Konoka. She hadn't escaped out of the lift unharmed. A shard of metal from the lifts had lodged itself inside her chest when it'd combusted but due to her having moved, it'd been getting pushed out. As well as that, something heavy had hit her head, nearly giving her a concussion. She'd considered herself lucky that the flying shrapnel and metal from the explosion hadn't decapitated her like her rescuers. Her vision blurred, the edges blackening. Setsuna closed her eyes as the world vanished around her. _

* * *

A/N: Phew, hope you guys enjoyed my surprise and it wasn't a nightmare to follow. We're going to have a few like these down the line so stay tuned 8D. Tell me what you guys think ;D


	11. Dance Hall Magic

"This was pretty unexpected of class rep don't you think?" Konoka grinned as she entered the crowded room.

Colourful crepe paper streamers and balloons hung down from the ceiling. A disco ball set right in the centre of the room hanging from the ceiling shone, reflecting a rainbow of lights. The lights had been dimmed, the walls splashed with purple, red, orange and green lights that had been installed in the roof that shifted and changed every five seconds. At the side of the room, a DJ was blasting out fun, upbeat music and circles of multi-hued colours reflected from the lights dotted the floor. Everyone in the year level was mingling and dancing in little clusters or groups. Or just generally goofing around as middle school girls tended to do.

"Yeah, yeah," Asuna grumbled.

"You know, you do look really nice tonight," Konoka said brightly, undeterred by the irritated expression on her best friend's face.  
Since the redhead usually didn't care about her appearance and wore generally tom-boyish clothes, it was a shock to see her in a dress and her signature pigtails were gone revealing a mane of fiery orange hair. The dress was elegant and simple, not too fancy but fit her well.

Asuna looked at her for a moment before blushing and saying defensively, "It's only because of stupid Negi. He's the one that wouldn't shut up about if I was going to get a dress and how it would so cool to see his big sister wearing a dress for once..."

Giggling, Konoka patted her. "Whatever you say Asuna, whatever you say. Come on, let's go mingle."

"Well, I guess it does look pretty cool," Asuna mumbled, shuffling her feet.

"So...where's the class rep anyway? I thought it was the golden rule when you're dating that one should never let a girl wait," Konoka teased.

Rolling her eyes, Asuna said, "How should I know? She said she had something to do so she'll be a little late but since you asked that, what about you huh? Where's your 'date'?"  
"Oh I don't have one," Konoka shrugged. "Gramps said I shouldn't participate in this because it might have a bad influence on me."

"Don't tell me you, Konoe Konoka, Miss Social Butterfly, is going to stand in the background for the entire night?" Asuna said in mock horror, a teasing smile on her face.

"Of course not," Konoka laughed. "It's not like this is a real prom right? I'm going to go dance with some of the others. Want to come with me until class rep comes back?"

"May as well I guess," Asuna said.

Weaving their way through the room which held at least about 400 girls in it, she was careful not to step on anyone's dress but it was quite hard with half of them wearing dresses that were extremely puffy or large. The rest were wearing various fancy tuxes and pants forming the pretend male portion to the prom. Some had gone overboard-namely various members of her class and ended up drawing fake mustaches or goatees on themselves. Some had even worn short wigs and nearly everyone had unanimously voted on having the girls who played the role of the boys to wear masks to hide their faces so it turned out more like a mix between a masquerade party and a dance as the more creative of the girls had gone full out. It'd been student body president Ayaka Yukihiro's idea to have two dances this year for the middle schoolers-one to prepare them for the end-of-year dance with their brother school, Mahora Boys Academy, and another that was the real thing. At least that's what she proposed but it was just an excuse to dress up and have fun. The girls would pair up if they wanted to with each other, playing boyfriend and girlfriend.

Konoka hadn't really given it a thought but her grand-father the dean had objected her involvement in the idea straight away. Just as she squeezed past Yuuna who was wearing a long cape complete with a ridiculous feather hat and a fake sword, someone tapped her on the shoulder.

"Asuna-" Konoka started, turning around. Her breath caught in her throat.

It wasn't Asuna. It was a girl she hadn't seen before wearing a white mask like the one she'd seen in the movie The Phantom of the Opera. The lower half of her mask was gone so she could see the girl's tender smile and her eyes...she had piercing light blue eyes. They were kind of cold, guarded but the more the girl gazed at her the more they softened and she had this strange feeling that she was looking into the eyes of someone she knew very well and held dear to her heart. Hues of green and red splashed over her face, throwing her angular features in sharp relief. Her hair was tied up at the left in a strange kind of sideways ponytail that spanned out in stylish layers and she was wearing a dark blue coat with tails and gold trim and lapels, buttoned together at the middle with buckles and white gloves. It may have been from the reflection of the lights but her eyes gleamed with a vibrant red, like fire for just the briefest moment she was fascinated.

Bowing, the girl spoke in a low voice, keeping her head respectfully inclined to her. "Hello Konoe-sama. I'd...I'd...um...I…if it's not too much trouble I'd…"  
Konoka found it cute how she stuttered. She'd looked so composed just two seconds ago. Taking the folds of the side of her dress in between her fingers she curtsied and dipped her head, trying to hold back a laugh,

"Of course, I'll be glad to dance with you."

The girl didn't move for a moment then straightened. She looked even more nervous than before. Konoka smiled. "May I know the name of my handsome prince?"

"S-S-Sa-Sakurazaki Setsuna," She stammered out.

"Pleasure to meet you Setsuna-san," Konoka said curtly. When Setsuna started to stutter again Konoka took her hand, winking at her, "You don't have to be so scared. I promise I won't bite."

As they danced, Konoka noticed her partner wasn't a good dancer. In fact she couldn't really dance at all so she decided to help her by getting her to move with her. Soon Setsuna seemed to relax more, starting to laugh with her. She still couldn't dance but she seemed to be enjoying herself more. Every time Konoka's skin touched hers, she felt a tingle like electricity shooting through her. It felt so _right _dancing with this girl even if Setsuna looked like she was fighting someone more than dancing but their movements matched in some weird, strange way.

Konoka twirled on the spot, falling backwards and Setsuna caught her as if she'd done it a thousand times, her arm around her waist and her other hand in Konoka's. Their eyes met for a fraction of a second and Konoka felt that electricity again, like a buzz. Setsuna pulled her up to her feet, spinning her around and jerked her towards her firmly. Konoka held her gaze for a second before pushing her away. The music had slowed to a dull waltz. Setsuna was breathing hard, her eyes suddenly guarded. Now that they were close Konoka could see they were brown not blue. As people started to grumble and some girls called out for more upbeat positive songs Setsuna bowed to her once more before disappearing through the throng of people.

"Hey, wait!" Konoka called.

Pausing, Setsuna glanced over her shoulder at her questioningly, a flicker of curiosity flaring in her eyes.

"...Um what class are you in?" Konoka said.

"Class 2-F."

"Ok and uh...can I call you Secchan?" Konoka grinned at her.

Somehow she had a feeling that underneath her mask, she was blushing. Nodding, Setsuna vanished through the crowd.

Mana's first word to Setsuna when she'd escaped to where she was at a non-packed corner of the room was "Well?"

Setsuna threw the mask into Mana's hand, leaning back against the wall. Closing her eyes, she blurted out, "I picked the dean's grand-daughter to dance with me!"

Raising an eyebrow, Mana remarked dryly, "Well that was unusually bold of you Setsuna. I never dared you to dance with anyone special."  
Throwing her hands in the air, Setsuna cried out, "I didn't know it was her. I mean...she had her hair tied up with jewellery and flowers and everything! I don't know I was just drawn to her!"

Chuckling, Mana pushed herself of the wall she'd been leaning against and patted Setsuna on the shoulder. "It's alright. Now you don't owe me one for that favour you asked of me. "  
Glaring balefully at Mana's retreating back as she walked away, Setsuna loosened her tie and glanced back at the dance floor. Konoka had blended back into the mass of bodies, lost in a myriad of dresses and party props and apparel. Despite her initial nervousness she'd like dancing with her. And she'd liked Konoka. She thought she might want to see her again.

* * *

A.N: Boom! Next chapter up. Thank you, thank you to everyone who's reviewed so far. Now we're getting to the fun parts 8D. From this point on little bit more magic, little bit more fun and excitment so stay tuned!


	12. SS Titanic

S.S Mahora

The S.S Mahora was on its first maiden voyage abroad, currently anchored at the pier near Hiroshima. It was a beautiful, enormous luxury cruise liner, top of the class and unfortunately, extremely expensive. Only those in the elite circles of society, the ones with money and status and business socialites had been invited to partake in the journey. Standing among the throng of people, admirers, passer-bys, family or friends of those that were boarding the ship, Setsuna Sakurazaki leaned against the railing near the end where it was just slightly less crowded than everywhere else, watching the ship wistfully.

"Oi Setsuna, come on I found us a way to get us on the ship!" Asuna squeezed through an elderly couple, grabbing her hand and dragged her through the crowd.

"Wha-what? Wait, we can't just-!"

"Yadda yadda, you want a better life for yourself don't ya! Well this is our ride to that life! You gotta be willing to bend the rules sometimes!"

Asuna was Setsuna's best friend, her only friend really. They both worked as cargo loaders but pay was pretty bad and it barely paid rent and food. The most expensive thing she possessed was the crisp shirt she was wearing. As a portly lady with her blonde-haired daughter was arguing with the usher about ticket prices or something like that and waving other people through, Asuna dropped to the floor taking Setsuna with her. As she scampered through the passengers' legs and all, she dropped her hat. Setsuna had to pick it up quickly before it got kicked away by someone.

"Come on Setsuna or you're gonna get left behind!" Asuna called over her shoulder.

"I'm going to kill you if we get arrested for this Asuna!" Setsuna hissed as she caught up to her friend. They were halfway up the ramp and they were calling out for the last of the passengers to board the ship.

Grinning at her, Asuna ducked past a young couple, disappearing into the crowd. Setsuna felt herself being jostled along against her will. Finally slipping out from everyone and tumbling onto deck, she gasped for air, taking in deep breaths. Suddenly she heard whispers, someone shouted and Asuna was there, pulling her to her feet and pulling her along, sprinting down the ship. Setsuna found her footing soon and they were bolting down towards the back of the ship, dodging and ducking around startled passengers.

"Asuna! Where are we going?" Sestuna cried out as she jumped over a girl who had bent over to pick up her purse.

"I-oh sorry!" Asuna nearly crashed into a couple of businessmen, spinning around and staggering before regaining her footing.

"Asuna, look out!" Setsuna dove forwards, pushing Asuna down as half a dozen uniformed guards stepped out from around the corner of the lounge/viewing cabins situated right in the middle of the ship, wielding tasers.

Asuna slid forwards, tumbling into the guards. Laughing, she scrambled to her feet and flashed her partner a thumbs up. Setsuna who'd banged her head on the deck of the ship, groaned as she felt a nice bruise forming on her forehead.

"Oi you two, stay where you are!" One of the guards who had been chasing them from the start yelled.

"Shit!" Asuna wrenched Setsuna upwards and bolted into the lounge room which already had a sizeable crowd milling about, buying drinks from the bar and chatting away. "Split up!"

She pushed Setsuna away with a hard shove and waved her arms like a madwoman, "Hey, over here!"

"Asuna-!"

"Go already you idiot! It's not worth it if both of us get caught!" Asuna reassured her, smiling. "Don't worry, I'll be fine."

A shot was fired over the heads over the guests, making people scream. Setsuna dropped to the ground instinctively.

"That was your warning shot, you two. Give yourselves up now and we'll go easy on you!" The guard boomed.

"Go!" Asuna urged as Setsuna looked at her.

"I'll find you again Asuna," Setsuna promised. Another shot was fired and by the fear in Asuna's eyes, she was sure that one nearly hit her.

Asuna sprinted for the doors, crashing through them. Setsuna went for the doors on the right, scrambling to her feet and practically falling through them. Bullets pierced the air behind her. She ran down the stair-case, past the casino and gaming areas, veering left into a corridor. Her heart dropped. Just her luck, she'd ended up in the lower cabins. Setsuna spotted a trolley, filled with fresh quilts and sheets. As she heard loud voices nearing, she threw caution to the winds and plunged into the trolley, covering herself as quickly and adequately as she could. She pulled a face as a smell like she'd smelt once from fish that'd gone stale erupted in her nose. Great.

It wasn't too long before the trolley moved but it didn't stop for a long while. Her heart was pounding, her hands sweaty and she'd never felt so claustrophobic and terrified in her entire life. She was also sure she'd die from suffocating before she'd be found out. As the sheets were removed from the trolley, she prayed to whatever gods were listening that something, _anything _would happen.

"Oh gosh, Konoe-ojousama? It's a pleasure to meet you!"

Setsuna opened her eyes, whooping inside her head. She shifted aside the sheet that'd covered her and sat up, sucking in deep breaths of sweet, precious air. The woman who'd been pushing the trolley had her back turned to her luckily so Setsuna was able to sneak out without being noticed. Unfortunately she noticed that she was caught quite literally in between the trolley, an elevator and a corridor with a dead end. And the only way that was out, was blocked by a young girl who was talking animatedly to the woman. Setsuna spotted an open door. There! Maybe she could hide under the bed or something and escape later. Making sure her unintentional witnesses had their attention focused on each other she ran for the room and rolled underneath the bed. Good thing she wasn't fat.

There was a sharp click and she saw someone's feet walk by the bed, wearing a pair of fluffy slippers. What she didn't expect was the hand that reached underneath the bed, feeling around for something. If Setsuna hadn't been so worried she would've reacted a lot faster but the hand touched her hair. Freezing, it squeezed her hair once, twice, three times before retreating. There was silence for a moment and Setsuna didn't even dare to breathe. Maybe whoever it was thought she was a plush toy or piece of clothing she'd kicked under the bed or maybe she'd get lucky and-

Then she screamed, "Help, guards, there's someone under my bed!"

Setsuna got out from under the bed so fast that she hit her head on the beam. Blinking away the stars in her vision, she rushed to the door that the girl had been in the process of opening and slammed it shut.

"Wait! Please don't call anyone!"

Now that she was face to face, she saw the girl was pretty with large brown eyes and long hair. The bath-robe that she was wearing defined her body well. She was sure that if the girl wasn't screaming her head off she'd look a lot friendlier too.

"You-you're one of those girls that they're looking for!" She stammered, backing away.

"No, listen I'm not going to hurt you I promise. My friend, she and I...we're in trouble. This is our only way for a better future!" Setsuna pleaded. Suddenly something clicked, "Wait…ojou-sama…Konoe…you're the daughter of the person who owns the ship!"

Before the girl could say anything the door behind her burst wide open smacking Setsuna right in the back of the head. Staggering to the side, Setsuna dropped to the ground like a sack of bricks.

"Ojou-sama! Are you alright?" Two bodyguards were barrelling into the room, putting themselves in front of the girl. "Hey, who's...wait a minute. Isn't she...hey wait get back here!"

Setsuna was stumbling out the door before they'd even finished. By the time she'd gotten to the lobby, she was wondering whether she could go drown herself. But more than that there was something about her. She thought she knew her from somewhere before. Setsuna paused, glancing back over her shoulder as if the girl would just pop out of nowhere and materialize. There was something bothering her, like she was restless.

* * *

A.N: This is more on the excitement side, not magic but within the next couple of chapters we're gonna get there xD.

Leftie funny you should mention Romeo and Juliet I have something based around that in one of the upcoming chapters. And yes I update fast as I've actually got another fic in the making that I want to work on. This one was  
As usual, read and review and enjoy ;D


	13. Who's That Girl

Who's That Girl

They were known by various names: The Fighting Foursome, the Fearsome Foursome, Scary Damn Girls That Will Kill You In Two Seconds, Those Chicks That Shall Not Be Trifled With or You Will Die etc. Those in their class generally gave them a wide berth, well two of them at least. The other two were friendly enough so the others felt more at ease socializing with them. At the current moment, the swordswoman of the group, a mysterious snow-skinned beauty named Sakurazaki Setsuna, was kicking the collective butts of the poor students under her command in the kendo dojo. It was indeed a sight to be feared.

"Next!" She barked sharply, her voice ringing through the air like the omen of death by boken she was.

Wincing, her next victim shuffled forwards and held the boken in the air like a fishing rod. Bowing to each other, they slid into fighting pose and started to circle each warily like sharks waiting for the kill. Setsuna charged in first, faster than the eye could see and struck once, twice, trading blows with her victim. The thwack of wood hitting wood reminding those present of bamboo canes being slapped across disobedient pupil's knuckles. Forcing the girl back, she pivoted on her foot, bluffing an aim to her forearm. The girl cried out, just barely managing to parry. Setsuna struck at the side of the girl's head, her boken hitting the helmet protecting it once. To her credit, the girl retaliated just as quickly but Setsuna blocked it and thrust her boken at her opponent's right fore-arm. Crying out, the girl's grip on her weapon loosened but by then Setsuna had landed a blow on the left side of her waist, causing her to drop it. The serious expression on her face softened as she saw the girl's face behind her the visor of the helmet she wore.

"Don't be so disappointed. You did well for only having practiced for one day, better than most. I'd say you're a natural," Setsuna smiled at her, extending a hand to her as she picked up her weapon.

Her face brightened and she hurried off to re-join the rest of her students. She turned to face them and said, "Good job, everyone did really well today so you should all be proud of yourselves. It's 5:00pm right now so that's all we have time for today. I'll see you all tomorrow afternoon and we'll practice the movements I taught you all today in pairs."

She bowed and the rest of the students followed suit. As they went to the dressing rooms to go get changed, she sat down on the bench in the corner of the room, taking off her helmet and unwrapping the bandages she wore around her hands and wrists. Spasms of pain shot down her arm with each movement, making her grit her teeth. It'd been hard enough training today with one of them sprained.

"It hasn't healed yet Setsuna?" A deep voice enquired.

She heard that voice far too many times to be startled anymore. Without looking, she said, "Good afternoon Mana and that is none of your business."

Mana stood heads and shoulders above the rest of the girls in her class, in the whole year level Setsuna thought and sometimes she believed she was a spy or something because she looked a lot older than 16 and she was the craftiest, most resourceful person she knew. Or maybe a demon, Setsuna thought darkly as she glanced at the girl. Her eyes were a peculiar feature, red and with the pupils dilated like a cat's.

Giving her a wry look, Mana said, "Kaede's called a friendly get-together."

"Really," Setsuna raised an eyebrow questioningly, one strip of bandage in her mouth.

"Yes," Mana nodded. "We're to meet at her room in an hour from now… She wants to go down to the arcade, play some video games."

"That's...unlike her," Setsuna frowned.

Shrugging, Mana leaned against the door-frame, crossing her arms and gazed across at dojo at the girls who were filing out, dressed in casual clothing. "She's been playing that...what do you call it...that dancing game with those two girls she's looking after. Ku saw her doing it and the pair seemed to find it interesting."

The girls all waved bye to her or smiled at her as they passed but seemed to cower a little when they saw Mana except for the girl who she'd sparred with last. She was wearing glasses and had a nervous smile on her face as she straggled along behind the group. She skipped up to Setsuna, procuring a flower from behind her back.

"Um...thanks," Setsuna took it after a moment, confused. "Are you alright? I didn't hurt you did I?"

"No, I was just surprised that's all," She giggled in a way that made Setsuna nervous, very nervous. "It was wonderful sparring with you today senpai. I look forward to tomorrow."

With that she left. As she stared at the flower in her hand, Mana chuckled, "You're getting soft Setsuna. You're going to ruin your reputation one of these days."

As Setsuna walked down the campus towards the streets outside with her friends, she found herself at the back. While Kaede and Ku Fei chatted jovially, Kaede occasionally baiting Mana into annoyance with quips and jokes, her mind wandered. Something disturbed her today, annoyed her which was why she had been taking no prisoners today in the training session. It took her a while to figure out what the feeling was but she finally pinned it down to having lost something, something important. Someone poked her in the cheek. Blinking, she realized it was Ku Fei.

"Setsuna, you ok? I called your name five times already but you just gave me that blank stare, aru,"" Ku Fei asked, concerned.

"Oh, sorry, yeah I was just thinking about something," Setsuna rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

She bit her tongue as a wave of pain sped down her arm from her wrist. Not good. Not noticing, Ku Fei smiled at her and turned back to Kaede. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Mana looking at her with that look she always wore when she knew she was lying through her teeth. Avoiding her eyes, Setsuna gazed ahead determinedly, not wanting to talk. She was always so perceptive. They passed a group hanging around near a bench, at the front of the school and Setsuna stopped in her tracks.

"Who is _that_?" Setsuna breathed, asking no one in particular.

There were about four of them. One, Setsuna recognized as Kagurazaka Asuna, who was flailing on a pair of rollerblades, trying to keep her balance. Another was a young boy with spiky hair and a short pony-tail and there was another young boy with orange hair and wearing monocles.

"Oh that would be Negi-kun. He's Asuna-dono's little brother and he just came here for a visit," Kaede said, stopping a good five steps ahead of her.

"No, her," Setsuna gestured to the other girl.

"That is Konoe Konoka. She just moved here from Kyoto a couple of days ago so she's starting class tomorrow, de gozaru," Kaede said.

"I heard her grand-father's going to take over as dean of the campus next year aru," Ku Fei added.

"Kagurazaka and her seem friendly," Mana remarked.

"Ah...well Asuna told me they've known each other for ages aru," Ku Fei said cheerfully.

As Setsuna watched, Asuna lost her balance and fell making the boy with spiky hair laugh even harder, his eyes watering. Konoka was holding back laughter too, her eyes filled with mirth as she dutifully tried to help up Asuna who was yelling a blue streak at the boy. Her brother stepped in between the two frantically, trying to prevent Asuna from pounding him but she tripped again and nearly flattened him if it hadn't been for Konoka pulling her upright. The boy with spiky hair was leaning on the bench near them, holding it for support as he continued to laugh so hard he was gasping for breath. Glaring at him, Asuna caught sight of the quartet and her face flushed red.

Konoka, following her gaze, looked bemused for a moment before her face lit up at the sight of them. Asuna grumbled something before waving her hand idly and nodded at them.

Exchanging glances with Mana, Setsuna paused but Kaede and Ku Fei were already heading over. Kaede clasped hands with the spiky-haired boy.

"Kaede-nee-chan! Negi told me you went here!" He exclaimed, grinning wolfishly.

"Kota-kun, glad to see you found a friend at the all-boys campus," Kaede said.

"Yeah, no kidding, Negi's awesome! He doesn't look like it but he's mad in fighting just like us!" Kota-kun said, giving Negi a noogie.

"Ah...I'm not that good," Negi said mulishly.

"What are you talking about? Don't be so humble man," Kota-kun laughed.

As the pair joked around, Setsuna met the eyes of the brunette, Konoka. She had long, luscious brown locks and eyes the colour of chocolate. At the moment she was supporting Asuna who was wobbling trying to stand still on her roller-blades.

"I'm going to let go now Asuna, all you have to do is hold still ok?" Konoka urged.

"Y-yeah..." Asuna muttered.

Predictably, she fell right back down again sending Kotarou into another fit of laughter as well as Ku Fei. Growling, Asuna ripped the roller-blades off her feet and threw them to the ground.

"Ah Asuna...don't give up," Konoka gave her a sympathetic look.

"That's right, you should never give up anee-chan," Negi nodded enthusiastically.

Glaring at the pair of them, Asuna reached for her shoes grumbling something under her breath.

"Konoka-dono, we're going down to the arcade. Would you like to come with us?" Kaede added. "Of course, everyone's invited de gozaru."

Her eyes lit up and she gushed. "I'd love to!"

"Yeah I guess why not," Asuna mumbled. "Oh sorry I forgot to introduce you guys. Konoka, these are my friends. They're..."

"The top four fighters in the school right? I heard about you four from Asuna. Kaede-san, Ku-Fei-san, Mana-san and Setsuna-san?" Konoka said brightly.

Nodding in turn, Ku Fei joked, "I'm the smart one."

Rolling her eyes, Mana muttered, "In which world?"

"Right," Asuna shook her head but she was smiling. "And this is Konoka. She just moved down here a couple of days ago so be nice ok? Don't go scaring her with all your awesome martial arts skills and crap."

"Hey guys come on let's go already!" Kotarou punched Kaede in the arm, starting to lope ahead.

At last only Konoka and Setsuna were left behind. Konoka was looking at her curiously with those large, gorgeous eyes. Feeling slightly unnerved, Setsuna nodded to her curtly and turned, following Asuna who had Negi in a harmless headlock. She thought she heard the girl giggle as she caught up to her, the wheels of the roller-blades she was wearing scraping against the concrete. Konoka skated up to her, latching her arms around her arm and leaning into her shoulder, startling her.

"Hey, what are you-?" She snapped her gaze to her, surprise in her eyes.

"You're so serious Secchan," Konoka grinned at her and stuck her tongue out, letting go of her before she could respond and skated up to Asuna, her long hair waving past Setsuna's face. She smelt a fragrance like the summer breeze and roses and a peculiar smell like ambrosia, a sense of magic. Wait what? Setsuna mentally slapped herself. Where'd that come from?

"Secchan?" Mana had fallen back so she was walking beside her.

Ignoring her friend's smirk, Setsuna held her head up in quiet dignity but she couldn't help the small smile that escaped or the warm feeling that was bubbling in her stomach. That feeling was gone.

* * *

A.N: A full-on magic-involved chapter is up next folks! As usual, hope y'all will enjoy this one. This will be the last one focused on them being in high school, thank goodness because I can't think of any other interesting and/or worthwhile situation/circumstances that could be used involving high school. Leftie, I sincerely had no idea that the anniversary of the Titanic was on the day that I posted it and to all who read it, my apologies if I offended or made any of you upset in any way. I assure you that was not my intention.


	14. Time and Time Again

Time and Time Again

It was the wee hours of the morning. In a large clearing a dozen or so caravan trailers were scattered in rows behind a tarp that was pegged to the ground. If one looked closer they'd see that it was actually a tent that had been pulled down. The circus workers were in good spirits this morning, as they usually were, going about their daily business to prepare for the show later in the afternoon.

Further down at the base of a little slope sat two children sitting on the grass using sticks to roast bananas over a makeshift fire made out of logs. Asuna, the one with orange hair tied up in pigtails with two bells had her head in her hand, turning the banana over impatiently. Giggling her friend, a girl with big brown eyes and long hair, nudged her playfully. She was already eating hers, her legs stretched out and waving her feet happily.

"Your banana's going to melt if you don't be careful you know," She grinned.

Frowning slightly, she pulled it out of the fire and inspected it carefully. Deeming it roasted, she sucked on it. "Blech! This tastes gross, how come yours is better than mine Konoka?"  
"I told you not to put it inside the fire for so long," Konoka said, laughing.

Sticking her tongue out at her, Asuna picked up another banana and started to peel it again. "Whatever my next one is gonna taste even better than yours!"

Humming a tune, Konoka bobbed her head. She remembered a song she'd heard one oftohe grown-ups singing yesterday. She liked the grown-ups. In fact she really liked this place. Ever since Kaede had rescued her from those people who'd kidnapped her and brought her to the travelling circus, she'd called it home. It was a fun place and she was sure that the owner, a girl with bright eyes and white hair, was a magician. She was always making birds appear out of thin air or appearing from nothing which scared Konoka so much at first but now she asked her to show her some other magic. Asuna, who was the first place she'd made on the other hand, yelled at her and tried to strangle her. Konoka didn't like that much because one time, the girl had made a lot of scary monsters appear. It'd gotten so cold and she started crying because she thought the monsters were going to eat them but her twin sister had made them go away. She thought her twin was much nicer because she also showed them tricks and made them cool costumes.

Like the one she was wearing now, a dress that shimmered red, orange and yellow whenever light hit it. It reminded her of fire. She'd even gotten tiny little horns that she could take on and off anda forked tail that attached to her by magic. It was like an extra limb and moved whenever she wanted it to. She also had a really cool pitch-fork she could summon at will that the nice twin had given her. As she gazed up at the sky, squinting and trying to make out animal shapes, Asuna leapt to her feet.

"Ah-ha! Victory!" She crowed. Hand on her hip she waved the stick in Konoka's face. "Try it! I bet mine tastes better."

As Konoka was about to take a bite, they heard shouts. Pausing, Asuna turned. There, running towards them and stumbling over her feet, was a girl about their age. Her hair was tied up in the strangest way, with her ponytail on the left side and her skin was the whitest Konoka had ever seen. She was wearing a white kimono with a blue hakama and carrying a tiny boken with twin tassels tied at the hilt. She tripped over something, falling down with a cry. Konoka scrambled to her feet, bolting over to her with Asuna close behind.

"Hey, are you ok?" Konoka knelt down.

The girl pushed her aside, running into a surprised Asuna. "Let me go!"

"It's ok I'm not gonna hurt you!" Asuna cried out.

"No you don't get it, they..." Her face paled as the shouts became louder. She looked exhausted.

There were five men coming towards them.

Asuna, her face set, asked, "Do they wanna hurt you?"

The girl looked at her in confusion for a moment before nodding. She was cradling the boken to her chest like it was her life and had slumped over to the ground on her knees, curling into a ball.

"Oi you two, get away from that monster now!" One of the men shouted, advancing on them.

Konoka frowned, glancing at the girl. She was no monster. Asuna glared at them, getting that look on her face that Konoka had only seen when she was really angry.

"Come on little missy, don't make this hard," The man said.

"What'd she ever do to you?" Asuna demanded, crossing her arms.

Konoka knelt down again beside the girl, putting her hand on her back. The girl kept on shaking her head and now that she was close, Konoka could hear her whispering something.

"Just give her to me kid," The man was getting closer.

"You know, maybe we should think about this," One of the other men said uneasily.

"What's there to think about? Sayo-chan is dead because of that demon," Another one said angrily.

"It was an accident. Come on, Yorichi, you're just not thinking clearly I mean she's only a kid..." The one who'd spoken before-hand said.

"Yeah she's only a kid now but she'll be a monster when she's all grown up, just like the birds she came from. You really wanna give her that chance Takemi?"

The first man had picked up Asuna by the collar of the shirt she was wearing and passed her over to one of the others.

"Put me down!" Asuna screamed, kicking and punching.

"Asuna!" Konoka stepped forwards but the first man had blocked her.

He picked her up by the arm, shaking his head. "Sorry kid."

Before Konoka could do anything she was tossed to one of his friends who caught her.

"You put up a good fight, monster. We've been chasing you for three days, surprised you could make it this far but I guess that's just cos you're just a freak huh?"

Konoka was sure she started screaming then as the man took out something sharp and pointy from his boot. It was a knife and he swiped it down at the girl but there was the sound of something breaking and she saw half of the other knife fly through the air. Asuna had bitten on the fingers of the man who was holding her. Dropping her, he swore and raised a hand to hit her but Asuna kicked him in the shins hard and picked up some pebbles and began to throw them at his face. He cried out, covering his face with his hands. Asuna threw more at him and he crashed into the man who was holding Konoka. Konoka fell with a plop to the ground. By the time she'd stood up, Asuna was pelting handfuls of rocks at the men who started to run.

"Hey, what are you guys doing? Get back here you cowards! They're only-argh!"

Konoka charged into the remaining man's legs, latching herself around him and started to stab him with the pitch-fork. Cursing, he staggered away and Konoka hopped off him just in time before he made a run for it, limping all the way.

"Yeah and don't come back either!" Asuna shouted, trying to hit him with more rocks.

But Konoka was staring at the girl. Or...the wings that had sprouted from the girl and was wrapped around her like a feathery cacoon. She wandered over to her in a daze, awed.

Reaching out to touch one of the feathers, she felt them. They were soft, like clouds. Suddenly the wings snapped back, shrinking back into her shoulders.

"Whoa," Asuna gasped. She'd turned around, her mouth open at the sight. "Wow...that's so cool! Can you do that again?"

"Asuna, I think she's hurting," Konoka said, looking at the girl worriedly.

The girl was still shaking her head, now rocking back and forth on her heels. She had her eyes closed and she was crying.

"Oh, hey it's ok we're the good guys," Asuna announced, striding over to her and putting out her hand. When the girl didn't respond her face fell. "What's wrong? Those mean people are gone now. You don't have to worry anymore."

"It's my fault," She whispered.

"We'd better get her back to the adults. Kaede-anee-chan will know what to do," Konoka suggested.

"Right," Asuna scratched her head. "Um...hey, don't fall asleep!"

The girl had keeled over.

It took one week when Konoka and Asuna could see the girl again. She was lying in a hammock in the owner's caravan with one of the workers tending to her. Konoka was happy it wasn't any random person. It was Ako, someone who was very good at making things better. Someday she wanted to do what Ako did too. The girl was sitting up, clutching the blanket she had in her hands and looking around nervously. Across her lap she held the boken with one hand so tightly she was shaking.

"It'll be alright. You're safe here," Ako smiled at her, patting her on the arm. "I think you've got some people who want to see you."

Konoka hugged Ako before she left and then bounded over to the girl who looked at her, startled.

"Hi! I'm Konoka. How are you?" She said brightly.

"Um," She said.

"I'm Asuna," Asuna declared, running over to her. "What's your name?"

"I...I don't really have a name," The girl admitted.

"What? No way, everyone's got a name," Asuna said adamantly.

"I guess...they used to call me Setsuna so you can call me Setsuna," She looked down at her lap, twisting her fingers together.

"Setsuna...Secchan!" Konoka spelt the word out, beaming, "Nice to meet you."

Blushing, the girl gave a shy smile, "Y-yes, nice to meet you Konochan."

"You're really going to like it here," Konoka smiled at her happily.

Setsuna just nodded, fidgeting with the tassels that had been tied to her boken. Hesitantly, Konoka crawled up next to her. She wanted to comfort her. Setsuna stiffened like a statue making Konoka frown. She snuggled up to her nevertheless, resting her head on her shoulder. Seconds ticked by, minutes then finally Setsuna relaxed.

"Aw you two are so cute," Asuna laughed. "Oh hey, what's that?"

"Huh?" Konoka followed her friend's gaze. There, tied around both Setsuna and her finger, was a red string connecting them together.

"Woooow, you didn't tell me you were practicing your magic!" Asuna said. She waved her hand through the string and it went through like it wasn't even there.

Doing it a few more times, she looked disappointed as it vanished.

"That wasn't even me," Konoka said, amazed.

Sighing grumpily, Asuna fell back on the ground spread-eagled. Out of the corner of her eye Setsuna gave her another small smile and Konoka felt like she was with an angel. She would never let her go.

* * *

A.N: As always, thank you to all who reviewed and I'm glad I've avoided the cliche xD. Hope you guys enjoyed it, this one was technically the magic chapter but there's heaps more to come. One more shot then it's down to the wire in pure magic and supernatural hijinks. Normalcy? Bah, who wants that xD.

Snoozy: As much as I would like to, it wouldn't keep with the theme. And truth be told, I actually can't think of anything right now ^^;

worldismine: Glad to hear that xD

Leftie: No worries :D Like I said, I would like to finish this asap. There's another fic I'm working on atm.


	15. Natural Born Mother

Natural Born Mother

Setsuna had never been any good with anything that involved love or showing her feelings. Most who didn't know her would say she was mysterious. Those who did know her would say she was the hardest person ever to read but those who were close to her would say she was the most transparent person they'd ever known. Setsuna herself knew she was closed off and guarded except for those few that she cared about. She had no experience in dealing with children or babies for that matter. She was the last person someone should entrust to take care of a baby that seemed to like throwing tantrums randomly. The looks that people gave her on the bus when she got on wasn't encouraging either although she guessed it was because of the fact that she was 14, not because the baby in her arms was currently screaming and crying. She'd never felt so embarrassed in her life.

Taking the first empty seat she saw, a window seat and parking the pram beside it, she pleaded, "Makoto-chan, please stop crying. Please? We'll get to your mother's soon ok?"

Makoto's response was to smack her in the nose with a chubby fist. Groaning, Setsuna reached into the pram and took out a stuffed bear. Waving it in her face, she made those cooing noises that she'd seen Motoko do. The baby just cried even louder, making the people around her look at her like she'd committed a crime or something.

Feeling like screaming, Setsuna pulled funny faces in an effort to get the baby to laugh. Makoto suddenly stopped crying, looking at her and Setsuna whooped internally. Her short-lived euphoria died the minute the baby burst into a new round of tears, sounding terrified.

"You're not very good at this are you," Someone said.

Looking up at the person sullenly, she found herself facing the girl who was sitting beside her. She was around her age and had long brown hair, brown eyes and had the brightest, biggest smile Setsuna had ever seen on anyone.

"Um, well I...this isn't my kid," Setsuna mumbled.

Laughing, the girl said, "Never said it was. There's no resemblance!"

In spite of herself Setsuna smiled. "Yes, I suppose not."

"I think I can make her stop crying if you just give her to me for a moment," She suggested.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Setsuna responded.

"I won't run away with her if that's what you're wondering," She grinned.

"Well...ok," Sestuna was at her wit's end. Makoto's screaming was getting even worse and she was turning purple in the face. Unclipping the belt, she gently picked her up and passed her to the girl, "But she doesn't really like stran..." Setsuna's voice trailed off as in an instant Makoto stopped crying when the girl started to cradle her and sing to her.

"There, all better," She said as she patted Makoto on the back and she let out a tiny burp.

"How...did you do that?" Setsuna asked in disbelief.

"Oh I have a younger sister who I used to take care of when she was a baby. She did this a lot too so I figured out it's usually just gas if they're not sleepy or hungry," She said idly.

Staring at her, Setsuna managed to utter, "Thanks."

Passing Makoto back to her, the girl said happily, "Now she'll be happy."

Setsuna lapsed into silence, sneaking glances at the girl out of the corner of her eye as she held Makoto in her arms.

"She's so cute," The girl ventured.

"Yeah, everyone says that," Setsuna said.

As the journey passed on, Setsuna found her a great help. It seemed Makoto didn't like sleeping so whenever she woke up she got restless but Konoka pulled funny faces, tickled her and said mushy things to her in that voice people use on babies to get her to laugh and giggle, all the things that apparently Makoto found scary when Setsuna did it. She even started to tell her stories of fairytale princesses and winged knights, swordsmen, magical gypsies, mages, mystical nymphs, playful elemental spirits and pirates and demons and angels. To Setsuna's surprise it looked like Makoto was enjoying them and even Setsuna couldn't help but listen. As they slowed to a stop, she heard a girl sigh dreamily to her boyfriend.

"I really hope we can be like that someday Toshiro-kun. Those two look like they'd never fight with each other."

Setsuna's eyes nearly popped out of her head. She kind of just opened and closed her mouth like a fish. Her companion however was giggling.

"I guess we kind of do look like a family huh," She remarked.

Setsuna couldn't form a proper response beyond whaaat. Sure she didn't dress very feminine but she didn't look like a guy. Oh, maybe she did. She was wearing a simple jeans and shirt attire with a jacket and one of those beret hats so it hid half her hair. She hadn't really thought about what she was wearing because she was in a rush to catch the bus so she just snatched whatever was in her wardrobe.

"Well I have to get off at the next stop so if you could let me through," The girl said, standing up. She gave the baby one last kiss before squeezing past Setsuna who had stood up and moved.

Before the girl got off though Setsuna blurted out, "What's your name?"

When the girl stopped and gave her the weirdest look this side of Japan Setsuna nearly slammed her head repeatedly on the nearby seat. Great, now she was going to think she was a-

"Konoka. I live around your neighbourhood, the house down the road from yours number 17. You've just never seen me. What's your name?"  
"Setsuna," Setsuna stammered.

The girl continued to look at her strangely before leaning forwards and giving her a chaste peck on the cheek. Laughing, she winked at her and ran down the steps out the bus but not before calling over her shoulder, "You're cute you know. Come visit me sometime Secchan!"

Later when Setsuna stumbled off the bus with the pram pushing a sleeping Makoto through the open gates of the kendo school the baby's mother owned, she didn't even notice the tree in her path until she crashed into it headfirst.

* * *

A.N: Hope you guys enjoy this one. Sorry there wasn't any magic in it but there was some fun xD. The following ones from here onwards are gong to be set in a more magical/supernatural world save for one but that one wil be funny ;D. Anyway next one up's going to be a blast 8D so stay tuned. Snoozy yeah I mean exactly that. Your concept is unique, I like it :D. No one's done it before and you're taking it in a very intriguing so direction so you should continue.


	16. Interlude: Flight

Interlude: Flight

She was bleeding, hobbling up the granite staircase with scores of cuts on her legs and feet from the thorned vines that choked the staircase but the princess was determined to find her. The last of the demon armies had fled the kingdom, retreating when their leader had fallen and Asuna and the others were in the process of detaining anyone left behind. She'd felt guilty when she'd left Negi to deal with their last standing enemy, Fate but he had Kotarou to help him and together, the pair more were than a match for the white-haired terrorist leader. Pushing open the doors with a heave, she stumbled into the throne room of her palace. She was lucky, extremely lucky that her barriers were strong enough to cover the entire kingdom, protecting everyone from the surprise assault and that she'd been quick enough but it had cost her so much magical energy. She'd had to hold up the barriers to protect as many people as she could who'd been evacuated out of the immediate firing zone while Negi and the others fought Fate and his team-a quartet of girls with deadly powers. They'd dispatched the girls though it took some trouble and Negi had been fighting Fate for he was one who was most evenly matched. Fate was the most powerful of them all but Negi was just as equally, if not, even more so and with Kotarou, the two had fought him into a corner. She could trust them to take care of Fate but there was one person she had to save.

Setsuna.

He'd said she was here and Fate had no reason to lie...unless it was a trap but she couldn't stand by and do nothing. Setsuna had been missing for a week now so when Fate had said she was trapped in the Shadow Realm fighting Tsukuyomi she hadn't thought anything else of it. Kotarou had helped transport her here then returned back to Negi but not before supplying her with a shadow dog that could teleport her back to the real world. It would come to her when she called it. The Shadow Realm was a mirror world of the world she lived in, always swarming with darkness and death. Nearly everything in here was evil, rotten. Decaying bodies rotted everywhere, bones scattered the ground and she could smell the rancid air, like something had died. Most people went crazy if they stayed in here for too long and killed themselves or died of starvation and/or dehydration because the Shadow Realm fed on all the negative things they had and played tricks with people's minds. It sucked a person's energy, feeding on their despair, negativity and sins and leaving them with only the bad things in their hearts. She knew that if Setsuna was here the first place she'd go to was the fake Konoe palace, the only sanctuary that existed. She only hoped that when she opened the door to the throne room that she wasn't too late.

_From the shadows of the room they watched as the princess's eyes widened, her scream echoing across the empty room. She ran to her knight who was chained to the floor by her arms and legs, her white wings lying limply on the floor but the princess couldn't reach her because she was trapped inside a transparent blue sphere made of enchanted glass. Blood-stained feathers scattered the sphere's surface and her knight was breathing harshly, her eyes closed. The princess pounded with all her might on the sphere with clenched fists, starting to cry. _

_Her knight didn't move or answer and the princess's face turned pale as she noticed the blood pooling from underneath her knight, getting larger and larger with every passing second. They murmured sadly, feeling the princess's pain but they could do nothing. They were only spirits after all and could only watch the world pass them by. Except for one of them, the one they called Zazie. She was a demon but she could see them and she had powers that scared even them. She emerged from the shadows now, striding towards the fallen knight. She had a plan, a life for a life, even if one of those lives was already at death's door. _

Konoka slumped to her knees, her hands pressed against the ball. She was helpless, again.

"Secchan..." She whispered. She was so close, she could almost touch her.

Then Setsuna shifted and she croaked out, her eyes fluttering open, "Ko...Konochan?"

There were so many things she wanted to say but she just cried, trying to physically push her body through the sphere. Setsuna pushed herself up into sitting position, the chains clinking as they stretched. She doubled over nearly instantly, holding her chest. Konoka felt sick as she saw the blood seep in between her fingers from the patch of blood over her chest, trickling down in streams.

"Hurts...," Setsuna rasped. One of her eyes was swollen shut and she looked dazed.

Konoka was crying too much to say anything. Looking at her tenderly, Setsuna touched the inside of her sphere with her hand over Konoka's. Her eyes were full of sorrow.

"Why can't I get you out Secchan?"

"It's too late, you have to get out of here it's a trap," Setsuna shook her head, blood dripping into her eye.

"But I need you," Konoka shook her head desperately.

For a moment neither of them spoke, gazing into each other's eyes then Setsuna picked up the sword that was lying at her side and slid it through the sphere. It was the Fey blade, sheathed and cracked, harmless now that it'd been broken.

"Take it, destroy so no one can ever use its power again and go, quickly before the castle collapses. The sphere, it's going to break," Setsuna whispered.

"What are you saying? I'm not going to leave you. I'm going to get you out of here...I," Konoka cried out furiously.

Setsuna gave her that smile, the smile that always made her heart beat thousand times faster. It was the smile that made her world happier because in her eyes she could see the love and affection there and knew that she would always be there for her. Now when she smiled at her the only thing Konoka felt was her heart breaking.

Coughing Setsuna bent over. Blood spilled onto the cobblestone floor, seeping through her fingers even as she covered her mouth. Konoka's eyes widened. She took the fey blade by the hilt and smashed it against the sphere. Electric sparks spat from it on impact and the blade spun away, clattering on the ground.

"Damn it, why can't I get you out?" Konoka said frantically. "Why...Secchan, do something!"

"It's hopeless. I'm good as dead, the wound's too deep to heal and-" Setsuna shook her head, her voice a mere whisper.

"No! Don't you say that, don't you dare say that! Don't...I'll get you out, I'll save you!" Konoka threw her entire body againt the sphere but flew backwards and hit the floor hard.

"Kono-chan, no don't!" Setsuna snapped her head upwards, jerking against the chains. She fell back, the chains straining and gasped in pain, losing what colour she had left in her face as she heaved more blood.

Konoka had staggered to her feet and trembling, threw every spell she knew at it.

"Stop Kono-chan, please! You have to get out of here!" Setsuna shouted.

Konoka's legs were wobbling and she felt sick. Too much, she'd spent too much on erecting the barriers. Panting, she raised a shuddering hand and aimed another spell. The only thing that came out of her hand was a stream of weak energy that flickered feebly then winked out altogether. Setsuna was still shouting, panic written all over her face. Konoka stumbled over to her, sobbing.

"Secchan, I'm sorry I'm so sorry," Konoka sobbed.

"Don't be," Setsuna whispered.

Konoka felt a spark of hope flare as she Setsuna's fingers clasped hers but when she tried it met solid glass. She tried to pull her out but nothing moved, only her hand. Setsuna had her head turned away, her body sagging and shoulders shaking. And her form was becoming faint, like a ghost. Konoka cried out as the hand she was holding turned to air in her grasp. Setsuna turned back to her, her eyes trickling with unshed tears. Then her hand slipped, dropping to the floor but her eyes never left hers.

"I love you Konochan. I'm sorry I never had the courage to say that before," Setsuna said softly.

"Then why...why aren't you fighting?" Konoka slammed the sphere so hard it shook but she didn't care. She leaned against the sphere, eyes squeezed shut.

Her only response was silence. Konoka felt like her heart was being squeezed by a fist. Then she stroked her face, affectionately, warmly, brushing away the tears that had were  
falling freely now.

"Don't cry. I'll find you again," Setsuna said but her voice sounded strange, like an echo.

"No...NO!" Konoka opened her eyes. Setsuna was fading, her form turning transparent.

But she couldn't hear her now. Setsuna sat back, eyes closed, head bowed, defeated. She was crying.

"Secchan! No, you promised! You promised damn it! You promised me...you promised we'd grow old together and be together as long as we could! Don't leave me, not after I finally found you again!" Konoka shouted, trying to break the sphere with all she had.

There was a whisper in her ear that was carried away by the wind as quickly as it'd come.

_I'm sorry. _

The sphere shattered into a thousand pieces, the glass fragments littering the floor and turning into stone and Setsuna disappeared. A black puddle appeared underneath her, someone's hand grabbed her arm and in a moment she was outside the castle again, transported via shadow.

Kotarou was there, scratching his head and whistled at the palace that had suddenly crumbled into a pile of blackened rocks when the sphere had been broken, "Whoa that was close. Man, what a trap, woulda lost you if Negi hadn't figured it out! Wait if the palace really did collapse because you fell for it...where's Setsuna-anee...oh god."

"Hey Kotarou! What the hell be more careful when you do your shadow teleport thing you nearly lost me back...Konoka? You're ok, thank god!" Asuna clambered out of a shadow puddle behind Kotarou. "Konoka? Hey, what's wrong?"

"Secchan...she's gone," Konoka said brokenly.

All the colour drained from Asuna's face.

"I...I didn't know I thought she was the only one in there..." Kotarou stammered.

"How damn stupid can you be Kotarou?" Asuna screamed, grabbing him by the collar lapels and shoving him towards the ground.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry ok?" Kotarou yelled, voice cracking.

Konoka fell to her knees on the ground, staring at the spot where Setsuna had been. Then a

light engulfed them and everything went white.

_Zazie turned away from the princess, glancing at the knight. The deal had been done, sealed by fate. _

"_I whispered to Negi-kun about your princess. Kotarou-kun was able to save her in time and she is safe for the moment."_

"Thank you Zazie-san," Setsuna stood next to her, watching the princess softly with tears leaking from her eyes.

"_Was the deal worth it Setsuna-san?" She asked quietly. _

_Watching her princess sadly, Setsuna said without hesitation. "I will do anything to protect her, even if it means trading my own life so that she can live."_

"_You love her that much?" Zazie mused. _

"_Yes." _

"_Even to the point of wandering the ghost roads for eternity, to the point of having her memories of you removed so she'll suffer no pain even though you will?"_

"_Yes."_

_Shaking her head, Zazie remarked, "You needn't have taken the blade from her you know. Even with the blade the outcome of your battle had already been pre-determined in destiny. Tsukuyomi was always meant to die not you." _

"_And ojou-sama would have died along with her wouldn't she? That's what you said. This way now she'll live." _

_Chuckling, Zazie said, "Ah now that I cannot argue with. You saved her tonight Setsuna-san in more ways than one but is it really ok? It's true she will live on, as well as anyone who knew you and all their memories will be modified but she'll live on to marry, have children and be a grand-mother...without ever having remembered that you even existed. And you, you'll be forever wandering the netherworld as a ghost until you find the jewel. Can you live with that?"_

"_As long as she is happy I don't wish for anything else. You're the one that offered me this trade after all. A life for a life isn't that right? And if I can find this box of yours then ojou-sama and I will be reunited, in the meantime you'll keep her safe as well as you can?" Setsuna said, her voice unwavering. _

"_You have my word." _

"_Alright then, I'll count you on that," Setsuna turned away from the princess who wasn't moving. _

_She looked like she was a thousand years older, head lowered and eyes filled with grief and pain. Even her blade that had made it through the transition period into the period before entering the realm of the dead was being held with no kind of strength or firmness, instead hanging from her fingers slackly as if it might fall out at any second._

Zazie said softly. "Come then, you have a long journey ahead of you."

_With a flourish of her hand, she gestured for Setsuna to walk. Complying, the hanyou started to walk towards the shining light in the distance. _

"_Zazie-san...thank you for giving me time to speak to ojou-sama," _

"_Everyone deserves to say their final goodbyes to their special person. Really, you shouldn't be thanking the one who's doomed you to eternity searching the ghost roads for a treasure child. I am sorry about that but there are rules to abide to, even in death. A life is a precious thing and I cannot take and give lives freely nor do I have the authority or power to do so but I can guarantee that you will never be apart from one another in all your lives from this point onwards." _

"_I understand. A Just promise me you'll take care of her until I come back. She's…she's the most important thing to me," Setsuna paused with her hand on the frame of the door, her head lowered so Zazie couldn't see it but she knew she was trying to be brave as if her princess could still see her._

_Bowing, Zazie said, "You have my utmost assurance I'll do everything within my power."_

_Nodding at her respectfully, Setsuna stepped through the light and vanished in a flash of golden light. _

_Zazie sighed, walking away from the scene unfolding behind her. She could still feel the remnants of Setsuna's soul departing. Sometimes it sucked to be the grim reaper. And sometimes, like now it sucked even more. _

* * *

A.N: You guys know the drill by now, read, review and of couse, enjoy! ;D. Things are getting heavy man, in a good way xD. Hope this one's understandable and to anyone who may have been wondering after finished reading this, I did get the inspiration fom Tsubasa Chronicles, haven't seen it really but I heard it's good so check it out ;D. Thank to all my reviewers, readers peace out and I'm glad to hear that Leftie although I agree that I can be vague, gotta fix that . And yup, got your review worldismine.


	17. Interlude: Solace

Interlude: Solace

"Hey Konoka, I gotta get back to the dorms. Will you be alright by yourself?" Asuna asked softly.

Nodding, she kept her eyes on the grave-stone in front of them, her face blank. Hugging her, Asuna walked down the line of grave-stones, disappearing into the distance. Konoka's face crumpled, tears streaming down her face. It'd been one year but it still hurt. When her grand-father had passed away she felt like a piece of her had gone with him, like there was a black hole in her heart. She put up the brave front but that was only because she didn't want anyone to worry. So far no one but Asuna had seen through her facade. Not even her father had seen past it though there were times when she thought he suspected.

Then she heard the rustle of fabric and the crunch of feet against soft grass and gravel. She didn't need to look up to see that her guardian was standing beside her. She was always silent, never speaking but Konoka felt her presence even more strongly than Asuna's or even Negi's or even, even the boy she was dating. Her guardian may as well have been alive to her for there was no one else that Konoka thought she could understand so clearly, not a single soul. She felt strong, slim arms wrap around her waist gently, a head resting on her shoulder and soft wings encircle her in a protective, reassuring cacoon. Sighing, Konoka leaned back into her guardian's chest, closing her eyes. She was only 16 but she felt twice her age. Her grand-father had done so much for her so she could go on and live a happy, carefree life but she had been too blind to see it. He'd freed her from being tied to someone she didn't love so she could be free to love whoever she wanted, marry whoever she wanted without the burden of being the heir to the Kansai Association. She never got to thank him or apologize for yelling at him and shutting him out. Now it was too late and he was gone.

An invisible hand stroked her hair tenderly. Something wet seeped through the fabric of the dress Konoka wore, seeping through the thin silk onto her shoulder. Konoka opened her eyes, reaching up with her hand to touch her guardian's cheek. It surprised her, that an angel could cry but she would do anything to make it stop. She would do anything for the angel if it meant that she could be with her every time she came here.

She didn't know what the angel looked like exactly. It never revealed its true form even when she'd asked it to but she knew it was caring and kind. It spoke to her in a gentle voice, soft and soothing but this was the first time it had cried so harshly. She wanted to ask what an angel had to be sad about but she was scared. Somehow she knew the answer would make her even unhappier than she already was. At first she'd thought it had been a ghost after all wasn't it only ghosts that could walk without being seen, that no one else could see besides those with the 'gift'? Then she'd caught a glimpse of it, a split second shimmer as sunlight shone on it before it faded out of sight again like ripples on water. Then she'd known. It was no ghost because no ghost could look like it did.

She'd seen large white wings, majestic and otherworldly. She'd seen a handsome face with warm brown eyes, all angles and sharpness, framed with shoulder-length spiky black hair. She'd seen the strange clothing it was wearing, a half sleeve-less white kimono tucked into a blue hakama and the long sword it carried, like something out of a story-book. And she'd realized it wasn't wearing any shoes when it approached her the second time she visited her grand-father's grave, alone that time. No one else could see it but really...that's how she wanted it. The angel comforted her, whispered words that she needed to hear that no one else could tell her. She could always hear the sadness in its voice, and loneliness. Konoka thought that it was trapped here, something which made her heart hurt but it would always come back to her even if she would wish it to move on or whatever it was that angels did. She was sure it could move on.

Sometimes they didn't speak at all but sometimes, in those periods of silence it healed her heart a little more than words ever could. The void that had been left in it was filled by the angel's presence and all the little moments shared between them. So just for those moments her troubles, her guilt and pain washed away. Today the angel wasn't speaking, holding her in its embrace but she could hear it crying still now. It was the first time it had cried since they'd met each other. Konoka turned around in its arms but as usual, she saw nothing. She raised her hands, trembling until she felt something smooth. With one finger, she moved it upwards hesitantly, tracing the outline of a delicate, smooth jaw. Something wet trickled down her finger and she brushed the tears away, managing a small watery smile. Her angel kissed her on the fore-head and she could feel the gratitude from it.

It felt so familiar and so _right. _So then she wondered why she couldn't see her angel. At times she could even hear her angel's heart beat in rhythm with her own and she'd just listen in silence. At other times she could see in her mind's eye a figure in a white haori and blue hakama, practicing sword-play with well-trained strikes, jabs, blocks and parries combined with swift expert foot-work. And most often, she'd hear laughter from a long-ago time that made her feel so happy. She'd even see some semblance of a smile and those times, she smiled back without knowing why. A newspaper, crinkled, old and yellowed fluttered by her feet, flapping from the wind against her shoes. She pulled back a little and picked it up, reading what was possible.

_A freak accident claimed the lives of at least 10…the explosion had decimated half of building so no one could get out. One lucky survivor, a local psychology student, Miss Ko…eye-witnesses reported her being thrown out of nowhere onto a tree. She suffered multiple injuries to her spine, her ribs and legs in addition to serous second-hand smoke inhalation and first-degree burns. Along with the other 40 occupants of the disaster…recovering in…" _

Then the angel whispered one word to her, pained and broken, _"Kono-chan." _

A name came to her mind for a second then vanished just as quickly. Konoka frowned, feeling as if someone had stabbed her in the heart. She had a fleeting memory of kissing someone with such passion it had them both shaking and an unbearable pain of loss, on par or even greater than the one she felt with her grand-father. She could make out the first syllable 'Se...' but the rest was gone, plucked from her mind like it had never existed in the first place. And she felt the angel hug her, squeezing her tightly as she started to cry again, burying her face in its chest.

* * *

A.N: Just got back from seeing my father at his grave-site from another state at the time I'm posting this so I'm a bit sad atm. I've had this shot written up ages ago though so that's had in no way any impact on what I wrote. Hope you guys enjoyed this one. It's sad I admit but as long as you guys feel something I'm happy, means I've done my job. Next shot 'continues' from this. As a side note, I don't really have a schedule for when I release these shots but roughly once every week or whenever I'm free. On another side note, all these interludes do connect. And as always, thank you, thank you to everyone who's reviewed and stayed with me to this point. 3 you all.

Other Notes: I am planning on doing a shot based on Romeo and Juliet so for everyone who wants to see that happen, I promise you it is coming down the road so please be patient.

worldismine: I'll work on that in the future but can you tell me exactly what it was you found confusing? This'll help me too to lock down my weaknesses and fix them so I won't confuse you or anyone else in the future lol. If it's too long to write in a review just send me an email.

Leftie: Phew glad to hear that xD. And I totally forgot about Kannazuki no Miko lol I watched it a long time ago so maybe I drew from it subconsciously or something lol. As stated above yep there's a continuation (this shot) and there'll be one after this one. And well, this one (the one you read) is somewhere near the middle so you can look at it that way or you can look at it as in this is them in another life and they're finally getting closer to one another only to be ripped apart :P. (Don't worry, I'm not that cruel they'll have their happy ending at the very end...maybe -evil laugh-) The very first shot is the one that ensured that they'd always find each other in each and every life.

Naruto, rei, Lance: Thanks I'm glad you guys like it :)


	18. Interlude: Hope

Interlude: Hope

_Dull snowflakes fluttered down from the sky, dousing the barren ground in a grey winter wonderland in an instant. One landed on Konoka's hand, melting__the minute it touched her glove. She didn't know how she'd gotten here but she felt so peaceful and serene, like she could stay here forever. There was nothing for miles, just an empty landscape of snow with grey, colourless skies and clouds but she didn't care. Collapsing into the snow, Konoka started to make a snow angel, humming happily. There was one thing she didn't like. It was so bright, like someone was constantly shining a bright light in her eyes. Everything was hazy, blurry. She felt like she floating, drifting along. Funny, she'd never ever felt like that before. Satisfied with her snow angel, she jumped to her feet and pirouetted, spinning and twirling on the spot, laughing. Somehow, her clothes had morphed into a simple, pure white dress and she was wearing no boots. It didn't strike her as strange. She could hear a faint voice calling her and a beeping in the distance. A flock of birds hovered above her and feathers cascaded down towards her like rain. Holding out her hand to touch one, it disappeared the minute it hit her palm. Crestfallen, she looked at the sky. Their feathers were all moulting, spiralling downwards but they disappeared before they hit the ground. Konoka squinted as she saw one of the birds drift down towards her and as it got closer, she gasped. It wasn't a bird at all. It was a girl with beautiful great white wings and skin matching the colour of the snow. Her wings were larger than anything she'd ever seen before, spanning about 10 feet each. _

_Smiling at her, eyes creasing, she landed on the snow a feet away from her, powders of snow puffing from the ground as her bare feet touched it with the lightest of touches. Konoka caught her breath as the girl approached her for the world suddenly seemed brighter like the sun coming out and everything, the sky, the snow burst with colour. And the brightest of all, was the girl that to her, seemed to glow like a light in the darkest of nights. She was treading her way across the snow towards her with soft steps but for some reason her smile didn't quite reach her eyes which Konoka didn't like at all because her eyes were so warm, so kind and gentle, like brown pools of chocolate. As the girl closed the distance between them, the snow faded giving way to fresh green grass and right beside her feet, a stream opened up, parting the earth with a small bridge above it. To her amazement, a spiral stair-case made out of pristine marble spewed out of the bridge, curling upwards into the heavens. And the girl's strange apparel, the one which reminded her of a traditional kimono and blue hakama but with the sleeves cut off and left to drape along her lower arms, changed to a crisp blue vest with long coat-tails and a long-sleeved dress shirt with a black collar, a ruffle at the neckline complete with a tie and frilly cuffs with sharp black dress pants and shoes. A slender, long sword hung at the waistband of her pants, like the ones that Konoka saw pirates wearing in movies. The girl bowed low, putting one hand behind her back and extended her other hand to her. _

_Sliding her hand into hers, she curtsied and the girl led her up the stairs like a perfect gentlemen. Then Konoka pecked her on the cheek, smiling at her. Her companion blushed then brought her arm around her waist, clasping her hand in the other. Never once did they speak as they waltzed, twirled and danced up the spiral stair-case. Not even when the steps split apart and Konoka began to hop from each one, laughing and sticking her tongue out at the girl who looked startled at first, especially when she kissed her on the cheek. Then she laughed and started to chase her, strong wings beating powerfully like a beacon with each stroke. Konoka performed a twirl in the air, sailing across a large gap in between two steps. The girl was there to catch her in mid-air but she always knew she would. She knew that she'd be there for her. Just like she knew every move she would make, the meaning behind every little smile or every caress and touch. Gliding down to one of the steps, she set her down gently, wrapping her arms around her waist and resting her head on her shoulder, embracing her body with her wings in a protective hug. Happily, Konoka leaned back in her chest and gazed up at the sky which had turned a brilliant dark blue splashed with a panorama of twinkling, dazzling white stars. She wanted to stay here forever but when she voiced that out a chill entered the air between them. The girl didn't want her to stay. She was quiet for a moment before turning her around, pressing their bodies together with her wings. Their foreheads touching, they were gazing into each other's eyes. Hers were full of pain, regret, longing and sadness all at once. She was looking at Konoka like she was someone precious...someone...someone she..._

"_Sec..chan?" The word tumbled out of Konoka's lips in a horrified whisper. _

_Shaking her head, the girl kissed her and everything else in Konoka's mind turned to nothing. The sky lit up in a canvas of red and orange, as vibrant as the sun. Yet someone else was calling her and when she opened her eyes, Setsuna was fading away and the light had returned again, obscuring everything in her view. As she turned away from her, she heard a voice whisper, _

"_I almost found it Kono-chan. Just don't give up on me, on us. Wait for me." _

"Clear!" Someone yelled.

Konoka jerked upright from the hospital bed, panting hard. _  
_  
"Oh thank god, you're alive!" Asuna threw her arms around her, crying.

"What...huh..." Konoka murmured, dazed.

Pulling back, Asuna wiped tears from her eyes. "You were hit by a car. It was so fast, I didn't even see it until..."

"You're lucky to be alive miss. Someone must be looking after you," The doctor said near her, removing the paddles from her chest and checking he monitor on the bedside table that was beeping steadily now. "Most people would've been in a coma for a very, very long time had they been in your position."

Konoka touched her lips, staring at the wall in front of her as if she were enchanted.

"Konoka? Hey, are you alright?" Asuna asked anxiously, waving her hand in front of her face. "Doc, maybe you should do some checks on her."

"No...I'm ok," Konoka shook her head. "I just...I had the most wonderful dream."

"I'm just glad you're ok," Asuna sighed in relief, slumping back down in the chair she'd been. "Hey...what's that in your hand?"

Konoka looked down at her hand and saw a white feather in between her fingers. A brief image of a handsome face flashed in her mind then vanished just as quickly. She put her hand to her heart, feeling it constrict painfully.

"A feather...," Konoka murmured.

"Weird how'd that get in there?"

"I don't know," Konoka said, gazing at the feather strangely. The image of white wings flashed in her mind for a brief moment and she felt a surge of pain.

"You must've gotten it from a bird or something," Asuna waved her hand. She plucked it out of her fingers and threw it out the open window. "Shouldn't hold onto something like that, you never know where it could've come from."

"Konoka-san, we'll need to keep you here for a day or so, just to make sure you're alright. You seem to have sustained some internal bruises that we need to examine," The doctor said.

"Kono-chan!" Raiten had burst into the room, running to Konoka. He threw his arms round her in a hug. "I came as soon as I heard. Are you ok? You're not hurt are you?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" Konoka laughed, hugging him back. Smiling at him, she teased, "You're acting like we're already married!"

"We may as well be with all our omiai meetings," Raiten grinned. He looked at Asuna who was making gagging noises, "Must you always do that."

"Must you always be so sickeningly cuddly?" Asuna shot back.

"Young man, you're not authorised to be here," The doctor said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Only one visitor at a time I'm afraid. You can come back when your friend is finished. As you for Konoka-san, Erika-san will be back later to check on you."

Konoka nodded and the nurse and doctor left the room. As Asuna and Raiten started to fight Konoka gazed down at her fingers, still feeling the downy softness of the feather Asuna had thrown away. She wondered why she felt like a part of her soul was missing. And why it hurt so much.

* * *

A.N: Man that looked longer in Word. Answer to your question is yes Leftie Konoka has no memory of any of her lives before this because she's in another life and thank you for your condolences. Thanks world as well, I didn't notice any of those I'll be careful from now on. And I'm a 'she' :P.

As always read, enjoy, tell me what you guys think :3. Next shot up involves some good old-fashioned hi-jinks between the forces of good and evil in the way you'd least expect. ]


	19. Angels and Demons

A.N: Leftie: As epic as that would be I don't see that working xD;

Lance: Well that would defeat the whole purpose I'm afraid.

Snoozy: Interludes will definitely connect ;D

world: Thank you 3

* * *

Angels and Demons

Every person has an angel watching over them but equally, every person had an imp to make life even worse for them. Setsuna was only a trainee angel, only a couple of ranks towards being reborn into another life and the young Negi Springfield, a child genius, was who she'd been assigned to, seemed to be getting into a lot of misfortunes this week like the banana peel he'd slipped on e_very single day. _Not just once either but five times in a row. Then there was the black eye he'd received when he'd walked right into the middle of a fight.

And there were those cats that'd chased him earlier today because he'd stepped on one of their fellows' tails by accident-and by extension him falling into the nearby stream underneath the bridge while running away from said cats. When the boy ended up dropping his book bag on his way to school, he bent over but flailed suddenly and fell flat on his face. She heard something crunch which was most likely the orange juice box he'd put in his bag which was probably crushed by now.

Setsuna slapped her hand to her forehead in frustration, shaking her head. Angels weren't allowed to directly interfere with mortals, just to give them a nudge or push back in the right direction if they fell off the tracks somewhere. As a trainee angel she had even less power to do things than the full angels like the power to sense or see demons for example or allow herself to be seen to her charge.

As she hovered in the air, the streetlight near her started to flicker. At first she didn't pay it any attention, her eyes on her charge then when the glass in it broke and a few sparks landed on her wing feathers, she cried out. As she smothered them out with her hand, she got that prickly feeling, the one that made all the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. The feeling that someone was watching her...the feeling that...Setsuna jumped.

"Awah, your wings are so pretty!"

"Where'd you come from?" Setsuna spun around, flapping away from the girl that had materialized out of nowhere behind her. Yet she looked…familiar somewhat like she was a very dear person who she'd lost.

She had devil wings and was wearing barely well, anything. With long brown shiny hair, a nicely voluptuous figure and lively brown eyes she was to put it bluntly stunningly beautiful. She had two tiny red horns where her ears should've been and a forked tail attached to her rear end which was whisking through the air in evident contemplation as she thought about Setsuna's question.

Looking at in confusion, the girl tilted her head, "Um, the demon realm?"

"Well...just keep your distance," Setsuna said uneasily, moving farther away from her.

"Ok but just so you know, you're not doing a very good job of keeping Negi-kun safe," The girl said with a bright smile.

"That...well I'm only, wait how'd you know?" Setsuna stammered.

Her smile grew wider and she pointed at Negi who was sitting on the sidewalk, squeezing juice out of his books looking miserable. It looked like his juice bottle had leaked.

"I've been following him all week."

"...You're the one that's been causing him all this trouble!" Setsuna accused after a moment, her voice rising.

"No, no I haven't. I...I just, I wanted to help him but ended up messing things up even more," The girl protested, waving her arms wildly.

"But you're not..."

"I'm a good demon!"

When Setsuna gazed at her blankly, she backpedalled. "Um well, you wouldn't understand anyway. I'm only a demon by chance. They promised me something when I died. They said I'd be reunited with someone important if I did something in my afterlife. They didn't tell me I'd have to be a demon. I don't really like doing all the bad stuff in fact I don't do anything bad at all..."

Looking even more confused, Setsuna returned her attention back to Negi. He was still squeezing juice from his books. The girl had fallen silent. Negi stood up and he must've stepped on something she couldn't see because he tripped again. Setsuna flew towards him but her new friend was right on her tail. As she grabbed Negi's arm to keep him from falling the girl crashed into him, sending them all crashing onto the pavement.

"What do you think you're doing?" Setsuna glared at the girl, springing back into the air.

"Hey, it was you who got in the way!" The girl yelled back, jumping up in the air to meet her and jabbing her finger in her chest so hard it made Setsuna stumble.

"What? It was you who got into _my _way!"

Pouting, the girl flew back down to Negi who was looking around in bewilderment, and yanked him up to his feet.

"H-Hey, don't be so rough!" Setsuna cried out.

"Oh relax will you? I'm not going to hurt him," The girl said, forked tail flicking idly.

Setsuna's eyes widened as the girl tossed him with more strength than necessary by accident, throwing him onto the path of an oncoming car. Setsuna dove in front of him, hugging him and folding her wings around him. The car screeched to a halt a mere centimetre from Setsuna. As the driver ran out, going to Negi who was trembling, his guardian got to her feet, glowering at the girl who was looking at her with a strange look on her face.

"Please will you go away? You're causing me nothing but trouble."

Either the girl wasn't listening or she chose not to because she just continued to look at her. Getting slightly unnerved, Setsuna started to retreat back to the air when the girl tackled her to the ground.

"That was so cool!"

"G-Get off me!"

Hugging her even tighter, the girl chattered, "I'm Konoka by the way, pleased to meet you! Sorry I've made things difficult for you."

Setsuna squirmed, wings fluttering madly as she tried to get away from her captor. She had a really strong grip. She finally wriggled out from underneath her and shot into the air like a cannonball being fired out of a canon. Looking frantically around for Negi, she spotted the young boy walking down the street towards the school, looking terrified. When Setsuna heard someone call her name she felt the very same thing. That demon girl, Konoka, was following her, beaming at her. Face paling, she poured on speed but Konoka caught up to her in no time.

"Hi-"

Setsuna sped away and cried out, "Go away!"

"But we're friends! There's a reason why I'm with you!"

As Negi dragged himself into the classroom and collapsed into his chair, bruised, battered and above all, incredibly confused and a tad scared for his life, he could've sworn he heard voices shouting outside the window. Negi stared into space for a short while before deciding he needed more sleep.

* * *

A.N: Back to our regular scheduled programming. We'll have a couple more interludes down the track and to clarify yes she did find the jewel and as promised, met up with Konoka again and vice versa. Just not in a conventional way. As for whether Konoka married and had kids or not before she died...well that can be up to you guys. I will give some hints though in the next one take them as you wish ]. And as always, thanks to all my readers and reviewers. And hope ya'll enjoyed this one!


	20. Disney Land

A.N: Naruto, happy delayed birthday! You're welcome, I'm glad you enjoyed it :3 Leftie: Yeah I was surprised myself at how far it went xD but I thought considering the circumstances and personalities, it fit.

world: I'm glad to hear that. If I was going to continue with it, they'd probably end up falling in love, defying heaven and hell and elope via Romeo and Juliet style xD. Or something hilarious and romantic at the same time. Involving Negi helping. Maybe. xD And many more comedic moments and stuff.

* * *

Disney Land

Disney World is famous for a great number of things. Besides being a magnet for impressionable young kids and adults alike, it was also a place where middle school students, should they be so lucky, get summer jobs as mascots and dress up as furry animals that were the trademarks and logos of Disney to entice people to keep on coming and/or selling stuff like balloon animals or food. At this moment there were two animals-one noticeably taller than the other, selling differently coloured balloons near the ice-cream vendor. The taller one was a giant human-sized version of one of the famous pair of Chipmunks, Dale while the shorter one was Chip. Unfortunately Dale was being kicked in the shins by a kid who wanted more balloons but there weren't any more left with Dale. Stomping on Dale's foot, the kid threw his empty chip box at the over-sized chipmunk's head and ran away, stealing two balloons in the process.

While Dale shook his fist at the kid while hopping on one foot, Chip patted his friend on the shoulder comfortingly. One more kid, this time, a girl, tugged on Chip's hand. Turning around, Chip bent over and smiled at her. Well, inside the costume she was smiling. Chip's face was always smiling.

"Which ones would you like?" Chip asked in a cheerful voice.

She pointed shyly at the two remaining balloons left behind Chip, one bright red and the other orange. Chip untied them from the pole behind her and handed it to her, "Both of them?"

Nodding, the girl hugged her and ran off, looking happy.

"Ah geeze, why couldn't I have gotten someone like that?" Dale groaned, sitting on the ground and nursing his foot.

"Sorry Asuna, guess I'm just lucky," 'Chip' said, taking off his head and revealing a heedful of long, chocolate brown hair with big innocent dark brown eyes. Taking in a huge breath, Konoka let it out a laugh, "Oh my gosh I can't believe how hot it is in there!"

Asuna took off the Dale head, putting it on the ground. Her hair was tied up as usual in a ponytail with two bells and she scowled in the direction of where the kid who had kicked her had gone. Her eyes, one blue and one green, could've cut diamonds.

"That brat...I hate brats like that," Asuna grumbled. "Wait til I get my hands on him."

"Well some kids are like that," Konoka said, giving her a sympathetic look. She sat down beside Asuna, gazing at the passing crowds contently.

Asuna and her were pretty much the best of friends. While the redhead was brash, impatient, spoke her mind and energetic, she was almost the polar opposite so they complemented each other quite well. They'd met each other during the start of middle school at Mahora Academy. Roomed together for the dorms, they didn't exactly hit it off instantly but Konoka's natural happy disposition and friendliness won her over eventually. Now it was summer and the two were working on getting money to save up on going for a road trip with a few other friends. Since the amusement park was close to the school they could work there on weekends and cycle or rollerblade back to the dorms.

It was quite peaceful here, Konoka thought. Well that was until two kids literally crashed into Asuna's back, sending her crashing forwards on the asphalt.

"ALRIGHT, THAT'S IT!" Asuna roared, springing to her feet.

"Wait Asuna, they're just kids!" Konoka scrambled to her feet, holding her arm.

"We're sorry!" They were twins, both with pink hair. One was tied up in twin buns, the other in short ponytails. Both were dressed in jumpers with bunny hoods and short skirts.

That was all they saw until the twins both screamed in childish terror, eyes widening as they saw something behind Asuna and Konoka and bolted away. Asuna stared at the cloud of dust in their wake, wondering if they were hyped up on sugar or something until out of the corner of their eyes they saw a girl with shoulder-length black hair and bangs, some of which covered her left eye, bolting up the side of them, turning a sharp left and skidded to a halt in front of them. She was carrying this great purple bundle on her back that was long and chunky, strapped across her shoulders and was panting hard. She bent over, catching her breath. Noticing the pair, she glanced over at them. Her face was sweaty and she looked slightly panicked.

"Excuse me, would you two happen to have seen two young girls come by here anywhere? They're twins. They both have pink hair and they're wearing these jumpers with bunny ears on the hoods," She gasped.

Silently, Konoka pointed in the general direction of the two girls. With grateful thanks, the girl took a deep breath, steeled herself and sprinted into the mass of people like a hawk after a rabbit in a field of many, many rabbits.

"That...was weird," Asuna commented after a moment.

It wasn't until a few days later that they were both called in to the manager's office that things got even weirder. It was Alberio, the stunt manager, a strange event as they weren't exactly stunt people. When Konoka opened the door however they were talking about something.

"…she died aru? That's so sad."

"Yes well, it turned out that the girl was about to wed but she went missing before the day of the wedding. They never found her," Alberio said. Seeing Asuna and Konoka, he beamed at them, "Ah Asuna-kun, Konoka-kun! Welcome, come in come in."

The other girls in the room turned and Konoka stopped making Asuna bump into her.

"You!" Konoka cried out.

The girl had stared at her and was probably about to say the same thing but at her voice, she said, looking offended. "I beg your pardon?"

"Sorry," Konoka amended hastily. "I mean, I just didn't expect to see you here."

"Oi Konoka, what's taking so long?" Asuna complained from behind her.

Behind the desk, the manager leaned back in his chair, smiling at them all as he played with his ponytail, "Take a seat you two and we'll begin with the introductions."

As Konoka sat down in one of the wheely chairs, beside the girl, Asuna came in. Her eyes widened in surprise and she exclaimed, "Hey, you're the girl we saw!"

Looking slightly abashed, she nodded.

"Please sit down Asuna-chan," Alberio said cheerfully. "The company's asked me to hire some new recruits for the show we're putting together for January. As you two have shown the most initiative and hard work we've selected you to be part of it."

"Wait, what?" Asuna said. "You're joking right? We're not stunt people."

"Oh it's not stunts you'll be doing," Alberio said, still smiling. "We need people to hold some props up and rally the audience, get them excited. Of course, if you don't want the job you can easily say no. Did I mention that you'll both be getting paid extra?"

Considering, Konoka raised her hand, "Ok, I'm in."

"Fine I guess I'm in too," Asuna grumbled.

"Excellent!" Alberio clapped his hands together. "We begin practice tomorrow morning sharp at 8:00am. Meet me at the entrance."

As they filed out, Konoka found herself walking alongside the black-haired girl. The other two, one a tall brunette and the other an animated girl with spiky buns, were behind them chatting with Asuna.

"So what's your name? I'm Konoka," Konoka asked.

The girl started, as if she were lost in her own world. She mumbled, "Setsuna, Sakurazaki Setsuna."

"That's a beautiful name," Konoka ventured, offering her a friendly smile.

She looked at her as if deciding whether to believe her or not. She seemed tense, too serious like she was waiting for someone to attack her. For some reason that Konoka could never explain she laughed and took her hand, bumping her. "Relax will you. I won't bite!"

And for another reason that Konoka could never explain when Setsuna relaxed and gave her that little smile, her eyes softening, she felt like the world lit up. When they walked out of the amusement park she felt like they'd known each other forever.

* * *

A.N: Whoa, chapter 20. Never thought I'd make it this far xD; As usual, enjoy and tell me what ya'll think. 3 you all.


	21. Sky Pirates

Sky Pirates

On a sky-ship docked near the ruins of the borders of the country, a small gang of mercenaries were corralling a hanyou into the lower quarters of the ship. It was a girl that looked about 15 in human age with white hair and startling red eyes, was the last to go. Like the others they'd kidnapped, her hands were tied together behind her back with chains and her wings bound together painfully with rope. They'd placed a collar around her neck attached to a leash and one of them was jerking it, making her stumble and trip while the others laughed or whistled.

"C'mon say something!" One of the men jeered. He was sitting on a crate, drinking and watching her with hungry eyes. At first she didn't do anything then he threw the empty bottle at her angrily, waving his hand at her.

It hit the side of her head, making her cry out and stagger to the side. She spun around and lunged for him but the man who had her leash wrenched her back. Choking, she fell back against the hard wood of the floor, clawing at the collar.

"That's enough out of you. We won't be having that beh'aviour 'ere," He said.

"Geeze, I thought you bird people were supposed to be a peaceful lot ain't cha?"

"Shut up Kuichi. We gotta get moving before the rest o' them find it missing."

"Ah I don' think so Aike. Found this one on its own, looked like it got into a few fights. I tell you, it was runnin' from a few o them when we trapped it an' they didn't do nothin' when it was strugglin', just watched us walk right out wif her,"

The man who was holding the leash pulled harder, starting to drag her across the deck to the trap-door.

"Oi, be careful. Don't damage the goods so bad that we can't sell it later."

"Not only that, you guys hear about those guerrilla warriors that's freeing slaves? Rumours goin' around that both the princesses have joined them. If they find us we're good as dead."

Snorting, the man who had her said, "These freaks are just animals. They have no rights. We're free to hunt them down however we want. Oi, what're you looking at me like that for freak? You want your sword? That what you want?"

She glared up at him, pure loathing in her expression. Teasing her, he waved the sword she'd dropped when she'd fallen into the trap. Something suddenly dropped on the deck in between them. It was a charm. Picking it up, he frowned at it. It exploded and a billowing cloud of smoke filled the air, obscuring everything from view. She heard panicked sounds, the clash of metal against metal and a barrage of gunfire. When it'd cleared there were four people in hooded cloaks all spread out on the ship. One had a giant sword pointed at the man who had been pulling her. Another was holding up two of the others while a giant kunochi was jammed in the floorboards beside her while a much shorter one was holding five down on the floor with a long metal staff. To her left, one figure was standing over half a dozen fallen men, twirling a gun in her hand looking bored. But she was looking at the one who was standing in front of her. She was holding both her arms out and carried a long, ornate white staff that was just about as long as her.

"Kaede-san, Ku-san, free the ones that are trapped down below," It was a girl. Her voice was calm, commanding authority.

Dropping the men she was holding, the one called Kaede leapt over to the open trap-door and disappeared down it. Swiping downwards, the one called Ku struck the men under her staff unconscious and ran over to help Kaede. The one in front of her chanted something, slashing the air. She heard more shouting and her rescuer turned around, kneeling down in front of her.

"Are you alright?" She asked gently, smiling at her.

She could only stare. It was the princess. She'd only heard of her from the stories but she was sure. She just _knew._

"Oi Konoka, catch!" The one with the sword called, tossing over a set of keys. Catching them, her brows knitted together.

"Asuna, mou did you ask him which one unlocks the collar?"

Touching her forehead, Asuna laughed, "Ah my bad!" Jabbing the man's arm with the tip of her sword, she demanded, "You heard her, which one is it and if you're lying..."

"T-third k-key on the left," He stuttered.

Flipping through the keys, her face brightened as she found the right one. Sliding it into the lock of the collar, it broke apart with a click and tumbled to the floor, leash and all. As the princess set to work untying the ropes on her wings, a rope ladder descended from seemingly nowhere. That was when she realized there was another sky ship a good 20 feet above them. More than half a dozen people were gazing down at them, including the one keeping the ladder steady.

"There's too many knots," The princess muttered.

"Allow me," A deep voice said.

The tallest one had appeared near them and was pointing one of her guns at her ropes. Setsuna lashed out immediately, snapping at her hands.

"Shhh, hey calm down ok? No one's going to hurt you here," The princess hugged her, stroking her back. "This is Mana-san. You don't have to be scared."

"Princess, perhaps you should use your powers to heal her first?" The one called Mana suggested. "Her wings seem to have been hurt in her struggles."

"Oh, oh no," The princess drew back and her face fell as she saw the angle Setsuna's wings were in.

Flaring them with one powerful stroke, the loosened ropes burst open and she leapt to her feet and pushed off into the air. She made it about two seconds before crashing back onto deck. Pain exploded from her shoulder-blades all the way down her wings.

"I think they did something more than bend them," Someone said.

"Looks like they could be broken,"

"Kaede-san, can you-"

"Roger, de gozaru."

Someone picked her up. She tried to hit whoever it was but her wings were useless, pain erupting in sharp bursts every time she tried to move them.

"Kaede-san, careful!"

"She's slipping de gozaru!"

There was a sound of a gun being cocked. Setsuna shrieked, eyes bursting open and threw a wild punch. She caught sight of a stunned face, eyes wide open before something sharp pricked her arm, burning her. Startled, she stopped and glanced down. Something feathered and sharp was sticking out of her arm. She made to wrench it out but a wave of sleepiness hit her. Her eyes drifted shut and she didn't feel the pain anymore.

* * *

A.N: I sat on putting this out for a while due to a few things. One is because of the slavery and cruelty using Setsuna as an example. Another is the possible continuation of the Angels and Demon one-shot. After thinking about it I figured it would fit the overall story to do a continuation. As usual thanks to all my reviewers and readers, the Romeo and Juliet shot/s is up next. WARNING: There will be some slight lemon so if you're not of legal age please don't read it.


	22. Interlude: Romeo and Juliet

Interlude: Romeo and Juliet

Breathing heavily, the two young lovers lay amongst the haystacks in the loft, exhausted. They were in the stables of the barn house where they kept the horses, far away from the farmhouse where no one could see them. For the young lady Konoe was supposed to be courting her supposedly future husband at master Springfield's house, just up the road from the farmhouse which was also under the Springfield ownership. And the handsome girl lying beside her, well she was the humble stable-hand Setsuna Sakurazaki under the employ of the Springfield house.

"You know, I think we scared the horses," Lady Konoe murmured, nestling her head on the crook of Setsuna's neck.

"It was you who scared them more than me I think," Setsuna said.

"So you say! Who was the one who knocked over the shovel when we tried to get up here?" Lady Konoe teased. "You're lucky the poor thing didn't get scared and flee. You would've had to go and catch him with half your clothes on."

"You were the one that pulled my clothes off so fast without any warning," Setsuna mumbled.

"I scared you though didn't I?" The Lady laughed.

"No."

Eyes shining, a playful smile etched across her lips the Lady of the Konoe House blew on her lover's ear, "Lies. You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this."

"I couldn't do it, you know that."

"You wouldn't even talk to me or come near me the first few months remember?"

"I was nervous. You were so different from me…you are different from me," Setsuna's voice dropped, self-consciousness colouring her voice.

"Secchan…" Lady Konoka cupped her cheek, stroking it and smiled at her. "You wanna know what I thought when I first saw you?"

"What?" Setsuna was mesmorized by her eyes, drawn to them. They were warm, kind and could hold all the secrets of the world in those brown irises.

"Well first of all that you were sooo cute in those pajamas," Lady Konoka started, whispering and tip-toeing her fingers across her bare chest.

Gulping, Setsuna said in a voice that shook just a little, "What else?"

"That you looked kind of sad," Her fingers stopped and for a brief instant she looked troubled. "Then the next time I saw you, you were cleaning the horses. Then you saved me from getting hurt by the horse but after that you didn't even come near me."

"W-Well you're…I mean, servants and the upper class never mix," Setsuna said quietly.

Raising a brow, the Lady said with a mischievious grin, "Well then, we broke that rule ages ago."

"S-Sorry!" Setsuna spluttered, starting to disentangle herself.

"Haha, I'm just teasing Secchan! You still haven't changed," She laughed, holding her tightly.

Setsuna couldn't help the smile that unfurled on her face.

"I like it when you smile," Lady Konoka said. "That's another thing. The next time I saw you, you were so serious. You never smiled or laughed. When we sat for dinner together and I made that face that was the first time I'd seen you laugh."

"You had two oranges in your cheeks. It made you look like a chipmunk I'd seen earlier in the tree."

"A chipmunk?" The Lady pouted, fake hurt in her eyes. "Mou, so you thought I was fat?"

"No, no I'd never think that you looked adorable," Setsuna said quickly.

With a gleeful laugh, the young Lady lunged forwards and set about tickling her until she was red in the face and pleading for mercy. Smirking, she drew back and wriggled closer to her, laying her head on her chest.

"Promise me something?" She said when Setsuna had recovered.

"What is it my Lady?" Setsuna started to stroke her hair absent-mindedly, the low gentleness of her voice echoing across the air.

Frowning, the Lady mumbled, "I told you to stop calling me that. One day I'll…"

"I'm sorry, it's still a force of habit I uh…I'm sorry," Setsuna said hastily.

"We're equals, promise me you won't go back to thinking the way you used to," Lady Konoka said.

"I…"

She draped her leg across her lover's, tracing circles over her stomach idly making Setsuna sleepy. They were both stark naked, the ethereal moonlight piercing through the barn window of the loft, throwing shafts of light across them, the floor, across their clothes which were strewn about haphazardly over the bales of hay littered over the floorboards.

"I love you Kono-chan," Setsuna murmured sleepily, her eyes half closed.

"I love you too," Lady Konoe said softly. "I just hope grand-dad doesn't find out you've been sneaking into my room since last year every week at every night. I don't know how much longer we can keep this going in secret."

"I'm surprised he hasn't found out sooner with the noises I've made and the window I broke," Setsuna mused.

"It's ok. I lied to grand-pa about it."

"I guess Negi-kun and his family will keep our secret as long as they can. I owe him for this."

Happily, the young Lady snuggled closer to her lover. She'd always been love with her, ever since they'd met when they were young. Setsuna had been five then and changing the dirty hay stacks into fresh, clean ones while Konoka had been six was being taken on a guided tour around the estate and the grounds by Nekane, Negi's older sister. Though, it wasn't the young Sakurazaki that her grandfather had been hoping that'd steal her heart.

"Lady...Konochan, I never...I, I'd like to live with you one day, together," Setsuna said softly.

Konoe stopped tracing circles and cupped her cheek with her hand, kissing her. "I would like that very much too Secchan. You know what else I'd like?"

"Mmm?"

Lady Konoe slapped her arm lightly and stuck her tongue out, "For you to stop calling me Lady. For goodness sake, we're lovers now and soon we'll be together. You don't need to be so informal with me."

Smirking slightly, Setsuna poked her tongue back out at her, something which if she wasn't still savouring what they had just been doing, she wouldn't have done.  
"But since you were so good tonight I'll let it slip just this once," Lady Konoe whispered in her ear, kissing her collar-bone with feather-light touches.

A shiver went through Setsuna, one that the lady felt all too well. "I-It was you who was...ah Kono-ojou...d-don't..."

Giggling, Lady Konoe ran her hand down the inside of her thigh and up her stomach, "I will never understand how you can be so strong but so sensitive at the same time."

The object of her affections only moaned, her eyes fluttering shut. "N-No fair I'm already tired from cleaning the sta-stables and...ah s-stop that tickles."

Suddenly there was a loud crash, like wood splintering. Setsuna's eyes snapped open, suddenly alert and Konoka froze.

"Secchan, get-"

"Konoka, Setsuna!" The hatch for the stairs leading back down to the ground floor of the barn smashed open and someone stuck their head up. It was a young girl with long light red hair and wearing a night-gown and night-cap.

"Anya! Oh thank goodness, we thought it was someone from home!"

"That's what I'm here to tell you! Your whole family's coming up the hill, even that guy who wants to marry you! Negi and Nekane-anee-chan are trying to do what they can to distract them but they can't do it for long. You guys had better run now!" Then with a flash, Anya vanished, the hatch slamming shut. Setsuna and Konoka bolted to their feet, snatching their clothes from the floor.

"Damn it, damn it I can't believe they came!"

"They suspect something, they must or they wouldn't have come," Setsuna cried, hopping about as she pulled on her trousers.

"But how...oh never mind, just quickly go, out the back into the forest at the cave. Wait for me two hours from now and I'll find you," Giving Setsuna a shove, she pushed her towards the window at the back and hurriedly swiped the rest of her clothing from the straw-littered ground.

Tying her hair in her customary left side ponytail, Setsuna caught the bundle of clothes she tossed at her and pushed open the large back window of the barn house. Clambering out, Lady Konoe rushed to it to help steady the ladder propped up outside while simultaneously doing her hair up when she'd first come to the Springfield house.

"Careful!" She cried out as the ladder wobbled slightly and Setsuna slipped, nearly falling.

She made it down, stumbling as she landed. Slipping on the dress shirt without buttoning it, she darted into the forest that surrounded the house but not before glancing back over her shoulder and smiling at her affectionately. Konoka put her hand to her heart, brimming with love. She didn't take her eyes off Setsuna until she was safe and out of sight.

* * *

A.N: This will be part of a 2-parter or maybe 3-partner not so sure but it will continue. Anyway hope you guys enjoyed and it was worth waiting for. Thanks everyone for reading, reviewing and staying with me. From here on out it's going to get slightly more shall we say...romantic I guess. The end's in sight so buckle in and enjoy the ride.


	23. Interlude: Memories of You

Interlude: Memories of You

Getting lost was something Setsuna Sakurazaki didn't usually do. She also didn't usually go on ghost tours in supposedly haunted houses. Unfortunately since it was a class excursion she couldn't just skip out. As it was, she'd gotten separated from the group at one of the seemingly endless corridors when she'd wandered over to admire a pair of antique swords that were hung up on the wall. Now she was bumbling around blindly, looking for them in the dark. The only lights were coming from the fire of the lanterns that had set up along the side of the walls. As Setsuna rounded a corner she found herself in a corridor with a dead end. Groaning, she slammed her head against the nearest wall in frustration. Perhaps the sound of her skull cracking would make them hear her.

"You're going to hurt yourself if you do that you know," A concerned voice said.

Setsuna screamed and jumped so high she whacked her head on the girdle that held the lantern.

"Ow..." She whimpered, massaging her poor abused head.

It was a girl roughly her age, maybe a couple of years older than her who'd appeared out of nowhere. She was wearing the strangest dress and had a portion of her hair tied up at the back with a bow, elegant braids falling over her shoulders and bangs parted gracefully, reaching just the top of a pair of innocent brown eyes. Setsuna thought she was one of those in-tour actors.

"Are you alright?" The girl asked.

"Y-yeah I guess. Um, have you seen a group anywhere? I got lost and now I can't find them," Setsuna said.

"No I haven't seen anyone," She said slowly.

"They were with a short girl, one who's taking a part-time job here as a tour guide. She said her name was Yue, maybe you can contact her on your phone?"

The girl looked at her strangely then she beamed, "Oh I know! You're playing a game with me! Ok, let's go find them but you have to tell me what they look like."  
With that, she turned around, humming a song and walked down the hallway.

"H-hey, wait but that's a dead end!" Setsuna cried out, running after her.

Instead of answering, the girl grabbed a rope that Setsuna hadn't seen because it was so dark. It was dangling from the ceiling. She pulled on it and a trap-door with a stair-case sprang open, the stair-case falling with a clang onto the carpet.

"Come on, maybe they're in the attic," She said, rushing up the stair-case faster than Setsuna could see her.

She hurried after her, feeling around in the dark. There were no lights up in the attic.

"Hello? Hey, are you here? I really don't think they'd be up here," Setsuna began to say. Getting no answer, she frowned. What on earth?

Climbing back down, she saw the girl at the end of the hallway, waving to her. Gaping at her, Setsuna looked from the trap-door which was still open to the girl then to the trap-door again. She was certain she was losing her mind.

"Come on! I think I saw some people go up the stairs to the bedrooms!" She called, disappearing around the corner.

"W-wait, slow down!" Setsuna said frantically, rushing after her. How the hell had that girl gotten past her and down there so quickly without her seeing?

When she'd caught up to her, they were standing at the top of the staircase. Setsuna held the banister, gasping for breath. For what seemed to have been such a short staircase it was very long.

After she recovered, she realized the girl was looking at something she couldn't see and said, touching her shoulder. "Hey what are you looking at? Can you see them?"

She slowly twisted her head, her face suddenly blank. Chills skittered down Setsuna's spine. Then twin gun-shots, glass smashing into a thousand pieces and high-pitched screams erupted from somewhere very close by, scaring the holy hell out of Setsuna.

"W-wh-what-"

The girl jerked backwards, slumping to the ground like a rag doll. Before Setsuna could do anything she jumped back up, smiling at her.

"Holy Christ, are you ok?" Setsuna cried out, eyes popping out of their sockets.

"Should I not be?" The girl said, her smile fading somewhat.

"You kind of just fell down and…didn't you hear those gun-shots?" Setsuna stuttered.

She gave Setsuna a funny look then laughed, "You're weird. Come on, they could be down here."

As she followed the girl down the hallway, Setsuna noticed it was filled with massive portraits of people in fancy, regal clothes. And since this hall-way wasn't even lit properly, she couldn't even see the paintings clearly. Passing by the wall-sized arched windows, Setsuna couldn't help but gaze down into the courtyard. Scraggly trees dotted the grass, bent and gnarled, twisted into unnatural shapes. A few had grown, towering over the mansion and cast elongated shadows like fingers stretching across the floor to clutch her and drag her to hell. Swallowing, Setsuna walked faster. The girl was strolling along, her hands clasped behind her back.

Stopping, she turned around and said, "I see some people further up, maybe it's them."

A rectangle of moonlight had been thrown on the girl though and she shimmered, like the sparkles on the ocean at night. Her face seemed to glow, an ethereal light reflecting in her brown eyes and hair. Setsuna was entranced, enthralled and for a very long moment she forgot where she was, who she was. Then the moonlight thinned, throwing them back in the shadows. Blinking, she shook her head roughly and she noticed there was staining the fabric of the girl's dress.

"I-is that blood?" Setsuna stammered, staring at the dark patch on the front of her dress.

Twirling around, the girl looked at her in confusion. "What blood?"

Rubbing her eyes furiously, Setsuna squinted harder. Maybe she was hallucinating...yeah that was it, she was going crazy. Looking more and more confused, the girl gestured for her to follow. Before Setsuna even took a step the girl had disappeared again, running off into the darkness. There was a light that was coming towards her though, an orange speck in the distance that grew brighter as it came closer. Thank the gods, it was her class. The speck was an old-fashioned lantern that Yue was holding to navigate around the darkness, the only light in the darkness.

"…And over here we have the portraits of the pivotal figures in the Konoe family. Even though this is the Springfield house, both of them often mingled and socialized with one another because of how powerful both financially and socially their families were as well. Journals have also shown that they were also both very close in the first place. Now if you look over here we have a family portrait of the Konoe family as well as a portrait of…Ah…Setsuna-san? What are you doing on the floor? Why aren't you with the group?"

Stepping out and hoisting Setsuna to her feet, her classmate and friend Mana said, "She seems to have gotten lost. Dear me Setsuna, I was worried we had to start to organize a search party to find you."

Setsuna was staring at one of the wall-sized portraits. The light from the lantern had thrown a spotlight on it, bringing the figure that was painted into sharp relief.

"W-who's that girl?" She whispered, pointing at the painting.

Like the others it was wall-sized but painted in it was a beautiful girl with angelic features, dressed in an elegant light blue kimono sitting on a chair with her hands folded in her lap. Her long hair was tied up at the back in elegant braids with her bangs parted in the middle, clipped to the side and she had a warm smile on her face that even through oil paint, reached her eyes. Setsuna couldn't tear her eyes away from her. It looked like she was smiling at her and she looked exactly like…

"Ah as I was saying this is the lovely Lady Konoe Konoka. She was the only child of the Konoe family and was supposed to marry Negi Springfield, the successor to this house and a wealthy nobleman who was rising to become a very powerful figure in society. They also both knew each other from when they were very little," Yue explained.

"Wow, she's so pretty!" One girl said.

"So romantic," Yuuna, another classmate, sighed wistfully. "Did they marry?"

"Well no. In the end Lady Konoka seems to have eloped with another young man, the farm-hand for the Springfields. She never loved Mr Springfield nor did his parents ever encourage it and as it turns out, she and the farm-hand had been in love with one another ever since they had met," Yue shook her head.

Some girls put their hands to their hearts, swooning. "So it was a real fairytale ending huh?" Yuuna said.

"I'm afraid not," Yue replied. "From the records, it appears that Mr Springfield broke off the engagement although the two remained friends and another marriage was arranged with another man called Roman. Unfortunately he loved her far too much and went crazy with rage when he found out about Lady Konoka's relationship with the farmhand. They were eventually hunted down and chased by that man all the way to the Springfield house with dogs and guns and as luck would have it, when all members of the house were away. By the time the members of the Springfield house had found them all three were dead at the top of the staircase we came up on."

"What happened?" One of the girls said.

"We're not quite sure. After this there were no records of anyone of the Konoe family and the journals that could be found are unreliable at the best. Some believe it's just the work of some of the more imaginative authors," Yue shook her head. "One witness reported to having seen the farm-hand grow a pair of wings and protect her from bullets using them alone when they were being chased. And a journal we found from Negi Springfield spoke of the grief he experienced when he heard gun-shots being fired and searching for days for them but not having found their bodies but since the journals are so old and seem to have been torn it's hard to decipher exactly what his writing says. In any case…this isn't all bad news. It's said that at 2am she appears to help anyone who's lost find their way back to the group. Well come on, there's still one more floor to go to and after that we have the cellar."

As the class left with Yue, Setsuna stood there, white-faced and statue still.

"Setsuna what's the matter with you, you look like you've seen a ghost," Mana said.

"_I can't believe this! You're going out with-with that monster? After everything I've given you, everything I gave up for you, this is what you give me?" Roman screamed, slapping her across the face. _

"_Konoka!" Negi rushed forwards but Roman pushed him aside, throwing a punch at him that sent him reeling backwards. Staggering, he was caught by Nekane who snapped, "Control yourself Roman-san. Do not forget where you are and what position you are in."_

_"You monster, don't hit Negi and Konoka!" Anya yelled, pointing her wands at him._

"_Anya no don't attack him. It won't help," Konoka said, holding her cheek where a bruise was forming. _

"_If anyone's the monster here it's your little demon freak!" Roman spat, bunching his fists. "When my family gets here that freak is dead. Where the hell did you-"_

"_Get away from ojou-sama," A voice pierced the air, as sharp as a knife. _

_Sneering, Roman turned around to face Setsuna who stood in the doorway in a black jacket, a tie, white shirt, dress pants and shoes all dressed to go out. Her face was masked by shadows but something sharp glinted at her side, reflecting off the weak lighting in the room. _

"_Oh look, here's the freak now. You disgust me," He said. _

_Gazing at him levelly, Setsuna crossed the room to where Konoka was, examining her face with tender affection. _

"_Don't worry Secchan, it'll heal. Come on, let's go."_

_Red with rage, Roman grabbed a letter-opener from the desk nearby and lunged at Konoka before anyone could react._

_"If I can't have you no one will!" He roared, slashing at her heart._

_Setsuna swiped upwards, meeting the letter-opener with a sword before it struck. With a bellow, he knocked the sword from her grasp and slammed her against the wall, his beefy hand around her neck. Plunging the letter-opener downwards at her heart, it spun out of his hand and embedded itself into the wall. _

"_That is enough Roman-san," Negi said coldly, his staff out. _

_Roman threw his hand out. A tornado of wind spewed from his palm which pushed Negi, Anya and Nekane onto the ground. As he turned around, his face twisted in murderous rage, Setsuna rammed into him shoulder-first, sending them both crashing through the stained-glass doors of the balcony. Glass exploded in shards, spraying the air. Nekane covered Negi and Anya with her arms. _

"_Secchan, Roman-kun, stop it!" Konoka screamed, rushing out after them. _

_Grappling on the floor, Roman punched Setsuna, making her head snap back. Growling, Setsuna wrapped her fingers around his neck in a chokehold and smashed him against the railing so hard the pillars broke. The ring-case he'd brought along with the ring inside tumbled out of his hand, falling onto the lawn below. Drawing her hand back with one hand, sword poised in the air, she swung intending to stab his face until someone grabbed her wrist staying the strike. Konoka was there, looking terrified, her hands shaking as she held her. They locked eyes for a moment, Setsuna breathing hard then her face softened and she let go of Roman, stepping back as Konoka kissed her on the forehead. _

"_You're lucky you didn't get hurt," Konoka said to Roman, looking as cold as Setsuna had ever seen her. _

_Roman was clutching something behind his back, something that gleamed under the moonlight. _

"_Ojou-sama, look out!" _

_Setsuna shoved Konoka out of the way as he sprang to his feet and swung the knife at her. An arc of blood ripped through the air. Two screams rent the air and Setsuna slumped back, Konoka catching her and kneeling on the floor, cradling her to her chest, crying. Roman backed away, bumping into the balcony railing. _

"_Setsuna-san!" Negi cried out, running towards them. He slipped on the pile of shattered glass littering the floor, steadying himself by holding the frame of the sliding door. _

"_Oh no..." Nekane stared at them, looking like she was about to be sick. _

"_Setsuna-san!" Anya knelt down beside Setsuna. She was trembling as she reached for the hilt of the knife buried into her heart._

_"No Anya, don't!" Nekane and Konoka both shouted._

"_What, but she's dying," Anya looked at them, starting to cry. _

"_No, I'll heal her. Just don't remove the knife, that'll make it even worse," Konoka said. _

"_Roman-kun, I'd ask you very kindly now to-" Negi began but the man started to laugh, tears streaming down his face and he whispered,_

"_Vera,"_

_A huge gale of wind blew everyone but Konoka and Setsuna back into the room. Anya cried out as she was thrown back, the glass cutting into her skin. Konoka hugged Setsuna tightly eyes closed and whispering words of comfort as a golden pentagram with a triangle and an inverted star in the middle formed beneath her. Magical power billowed from it, whipping her clothes and hair. Eyes widening, Roman pushed forwards but he was thrown back as Konoka formed a protective shield around them. Holding onto the knife, Konoka opened her eyes halfway wrapped her fingers around the hilt and pulled it out in one swift motion, blood spurting out in torrents. Writhing, Setsuna screamed, twisting and turning in her grasp fighting to break free but Konoka hushed her gently, stroking her and kissing her. The blood slowed down, suspended in the air for just moment then trickled into thin streams and dissolved into dust. The wound was healing, the muscle repairing and the skin closing up around it until the only thing that remained was the hole in her clothes._

_Watching open-mouthed, Roman whispered, "To think...I was going to marry you. I can't believe it… you and the freak...I mean I'd heard the rumours but to think...it was true."_

_"I suggest you leave," Konoka said coldly, not looking at him._

_Roman stared at them for a little while longer, then shook his head and walked past them. Konoka gazed lovingly down at Setsuna whose breathing had gone back to normal._

_"Konoka-san...you realize there is no turning back now from this don't you?" Nekane said softly. The older girl was standing at her side, her eyes full of pity._

"_That doesn't matter. We're going to get out of here, away from this where no one can find us," Konoka said. Meeting Nekane's stunned look calmly, she asked, "Can you do a favour for me?" _

"_Well yes of course I will but please at least think about what you're doing before-"_

_"Anything that could be connected to us, any article or documents, I want you to destroy it all. Make it look like Secchan and I never existed. And if you must, re-create the documents, falsify them."_

_There was a moment then they heard angry yells. They heard Anya screaming something. Negi appeared, his face panicked. "Run! Get out of here! Roman-san's family are demanding Setsuna-san to come out and face death!"_

_Konoka froze. A shattering sound pierced the air, the sound of glass breaking and Nekane dragged her to her feet. Hooking Setsuna's arm around her neck and another around her waist, she threw them over the balcony. The force-field around them saved them death but she landed awkwardly and sprained it, crying out as pain shot up her leg. Still groggy, Setsuna shook her head as she staggered to her feet and towards Konoka, snatching her hand and holding her chest with the other. Spreading her wings out, Setsuna picked her up in her arms and pushed off into the air with a grunt. Watching them disappear in the distance from the balcony, Nekane shook her head sadly._

* * *

A.N: Right so I've decided to make it a 2-parter. Hope I didn't disappoint. And  
Leftie: Believe me, I can go full out romantic xD.


	24. Gypsy

Gypsy

"This is foolish Setsuna! Snap out of it right now, she's got you under a spell can't you see? Are you really going to go and risk your life for one stupid girl you've never met?" Mana hissed, snatching Setsuna by the collar of her vest and dragging her back.

"Let go of me!" Setsuna growled, reaching back over her shoulder and prying Mana's fingers off her.

Frustrated, her fellow demon whipped out her gun from the inside of her coat and fired, bullets peppering the earth in front of Setsuna.

Spinning around, Setsuna lunged at her, knocking the gun out of her hands and tackling her to the ground. For a moment they just rolled around in the dirt, wrestling and yelling at each other and trying to strangle and or blow each other to smithereens in Mana's case. They were on the outskirts of the gypsy family that had set up residence on the riverbanks of the city, hiding in the forest that surrounded the west of the city. 'They' being Setsuna, Mana, Kotarou and about a dozen other demons, hanyous and half-demons that at the moment were watching their two leaders rough it up.

Setsuna kneed Mana in the gut, rolling with her so she was on top and wrenched her arm behind her back, "I win give up."

Twisting her head, Mana's eyes glinted and she said, "Don't be ridiculous."

Quicker than she could follow, a gun flew out of Mana's sleeve into her free hand. Setsuna's eyes widened but she was too late. The bullet ripped right into her shoulder, lodging itself in there. Swearing, Setsuna stumbled off and clawed at the bullet. She dug her nails inside her skin, gritting her teeth as she pulled the bullet out. Dropping it to the ground and clutching her shoulder as blood spilled from the wound, she glared at Mana. The bullet wound would heal soon thanks to her regenerative powers but it still hurt. Her fellow demon was standing up and aimed the gun directly at Setsuna's chest.

"You know you can't hit me," Setsuna said, her hand straying to the sword Yuunagi that she always kept with her until she remembered that it'd been _stolen. _

Grinning, Mana said, "Are you willing to take that chance? Without your blade you're a much easier target."

Tension thickened the air. Then the sound of raucous, joyful laughter broke into the air and children's squeals of delight. Setsuna sniffed the air. Something, a fire probably judging by the smell, was crackling in the air. Music filled the riverbank and cheering. Even Mana stopped, her eyes flicking to the side for a brief instant. Neither of them had ever seen gypsies before and in fact, if it hadn't been for the gypsy that'd lured Setsuna with flirtatious smiles and promises of fun, they wouldn't even be here. They'd already be on the move, out of here in another place, another city.

Mana sighed as Setsuna unfurled her wings and puffed up her chest, flaring them in a display of open challenge. "That girl really has that much power over you?"

"She has my sword too. I don't want to wait until they're all asleep to get it," Setsuna said stubbornly.

Raising a brow, Mana pointed out, "Technically you found it so it wasn't really yours to begin with."

"...Shut up, it's special."

With resignation, Mana stepped aside, lowering her guns, "You really can't wait to see her again can you? Fine do as you wish but I warn you, gypsies can never be trusted and that girl you lust after so much is no exception. You have five minutes to spy on her-"

"T-That's, I'm not in lu…and I'm not spy-"

"And get the sword back and if you haven't returned by then we'll be gone," Mana waved her hand dismissively at the shorter demon, striding past her back to the others who had formed a crowd as Kotarou wrestled with an older demon.

Folding her wings back inwards, Setsuna threaded her way down the rugged slope of the forest down towards the river-bank. She couldn't see the gypsy anywhere because there were so many of them, laughing, dancing, talking and playing together. Some were cooking and hanging out laundry over ropes that they'd strung up between two poles that they jammed into the ground. And to her utter surprise, the majority of them were performing magic. Here, away from the general public they were free to do as they pleased but as she skulked in the shadows, hiding from sight and never getting too close, she couldn't see the one she was looking for. Until she ventured too close to the circle that the gypsies had formed. She was there, dancing in centre around a crackling fire with a pink-haired gypsy while playing the tambourines, jangling them high in the air above her head. Half of the gypsies were playing guitars, the tin-whistle and singing while the rest clapped, cheering the pair on. The fire-light shone off her face, reflecting her eyes which were gleeful and wild.

Near her a gypsy with long ponytails tied with bells wolf whistled, laughing while the boy next to her pulled a protesting girl who looked to be the same age into the middle. Smacking him, the girl started to yell at him. He raised his hands in surrender but then two giggling young girls, twins, waltzed into the circle joining them, one holding the other's hand while the other twirled and began to dance alongside them. A delighted high-pitched squeal snapped her attention back to the girl. A large muscular man who was wearing only a pair of torn trousers and a head-band had leapt into the fray and picked the girl up. As Setsuna watched, confused, the man threw her up in the air three times, catching her each time.

Laughing, the girl kissed him on the cheek as he set her down. It continued like this for a while but Setsuna was fascinated. They were so different from her and her kind. When the girl cupped her hands together and blew, a thousand doves made out of white sparkles soared into the air in a flock, erupting from her palms. There was an explosion like fireworks as the flock split into half, veered around and crashed into each other. Everyone jumped to their feet, pumping fists into the air or cheering. Just like that, the spell was broken. Setsuna shook her head, dumbfounded.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine you two!"

Setsuna started. The girl was walking away, further down the river-bank to a cluster of bushes. Backing away from the gypsies, Setsuna extended her wings and lifted herself into the air, rising high above them. Tracking the girl, she spied her near the edge of the river, unzipping her blouse. Gliding down to a bush when she was facing the river a good distance away from her and huddled there, wondering how to approach her without getting caught . They were far enough that no one would hear them.

"You can come out you know hanyou-chan," A voice said suddenly, sweet and innocent.

Stunned, Setsuna didn't move for a moment. There was silence then a splash and Setsuna pushed apart some leaves in the bushes to peak. The girl was in the water, only her head, neck and the outline of her shoulders visible. She stretched her arms and Setsuna spun around, staring directly at the moon.

"I promise I won't call anyone. Won't you come out? I waited all this time eagerly to see you."

In spite of herself, Setsuna found herself slowly stepping out of the bush but she kept her eyes on the ground and as luck would have it, right on the girl's lingerie which was lacy and detailed, very detailed and her dress, all her jewellery, her corset.

"Well, aren't you coming in with me?"

Setsuna started and glanced at her quickly, bemused, "What?"

"It's awfully lonely in here all by myself I wouldn't mind some company..." She then sank even lower into the water so that only half her head was showing. There was something mischievious in her eyes that Setsuna didn't quite trust.

"Um...just tell me where the sword is."

Tilting her head, the girl gazed at her for what seemed to be a very long moment then blew a stream of water in her direction, "I don't know."

"What?" Setsuna's eyes bulged.

"I don't have it," She smiled slyly.

"You're lying," Setsuna accused.

"Am I?" She said innocently.

"Argh, fine I'll go look for it myself. Mana-san's probably going to leave soon any-" Setsuna started to turn around when she heard a loud splash and something soft rub against her back, water soaking her vest and dress shirt immediately. Freezing, she swallowed.

"Guess I can't hide what I've done huh," She said in a tinkling laugh. Whispering in her ear, the girl tightened her hold, "Stay with me for a while hanyou-chan. If you stay for the night I'll tell you where the sword is. It's safe, I promise you that much."

"I-ok," Setsuna croaked. Suddenly time or Yunagi didn't seem so important anymore.

She could've sworn she heard the girl whoop and had no choice but to face her as she dragged her down to the river. The girl was...breath-taking. Her figure was full and curvy, healthy and trim and her long hair clung to her skin, revealing her warm, kindly features. Her entire face seemed to be lit up, like someone had set a fire inside her. They plunged back into the water, the girl holding onto her hand with an affectionate squeeze. Breaking to the surface, she was first to gasp for air and had thrown her head back as Setsuna emerged. The only problem was that she appeared right before her, getting a face-full of hair.

"Ow..." Setsuna held her aching face, whimpering. She really didn't think that the girl had that much hair.

"Oh! Oh I'm so sorry I didn't mean to hurt you!" The girl cried out, whirling around to face her. "Here, let me-"

"No!" Setsuna paddled backwards a little, watching her warily.

Looking disappointed, she wringed her hands in the water and said, "Well maybe you should take off your clothes. It'll be a lot easier to swim."

Blushing to the roots of her hair, Setsuna shook her head. "N-no that won't be necessary."

"Oh come on, I won't steal your clothes if that's what you're worried about. The others would maybe but I don't have any need," She swam closer, beaming at her.

"No..."

What followed next was a blur. Setsuna had never seen someone move that fast in her life. One minute she was a good feet away from her and the next minute she was only inches away from her and had her vest and shirt in her hands and thrown them out onto the river-bank next to her own clothes.

"There we go," She said cheerfully. Setsuna just stared at her dumbly for a moment then whoosh, her wings snapped out from her shoulders so fast that the girl nearly got hit in the face with them.

Covering as much of her chest as she could with them, she stuttered, "H-h-how..."

"I'm a gypsy," She grinned. "It's ok, it's not like I can see anything really anyway but I think you...I heard bird demons can see in the dark."

Setsuna could've died. She could see her, every single strand of hair and every water drop that streamed down in rivulets down her skin. She could even see the pert, ample...

"Argh!" With a strangled cry, Setsuna launched herself out of the water and hovered in the air, covering her chest with both her arms and spun around.

"You're so cute," The girl sounded like she was trying to suppress a laugh.

Looking as dignified as she could, Setsuna said, "Why are you so interested in me? The only reason you took my sword was to get me here wasn't it?"

There was a tinkling of water and the girl floated under Setsuna on her back. She gazed up at her curiously and folded her hands across the back of her head. "Would you have come even if I hadn't taken the sword?"

Setsuna opened her mouth to say something then found the words dying in her throat. She muttered, "Mana...my friend, she said you'd put a spell on me."

The girl looked surprised then laughed, "Love spells aren't real silly. I mean, there are things a person could do to make a person infatuated but love spells? They don't exist."

Considering, Setsuna soared down to the river-side and sat down, wings still over her chest and said, "I thought so. Such things..."

"What's your name?"

"Se...Setsuna," She was startled into saying.

"Setsuna...it suits you," She said.

"And you?"

She smiled, unmarred and pure, "My name is Konoka, just Konoka."

A.N: Another one-shot we're about two shots away from the finish line. As always, hope you guys enjoy this. Thanks to all my readers and reviewers. 3


	25. There's a SheWolf

There's a She-Wolf

_.Konoka, just Konoka. _That was what she'd said when she first met her and from that point on she knew there was no turning back. She couldn't turn back, not from her.

It was chilly, windy and the moon shone brightly in the night sky illuminating the 'carnival' below. As she strode through the show-grounds, Setsuna became more and more disgusted. It was sick, corrupted. She'd followed up on a lead from one of her contacts. It masqueraded as a freak-show, housing all kinds of weird, otherworldly and downright creepy 'freaks' but the truth was so much worse. At first Setsuna had assumed it was just another one of those fake, kid ones with people wearing masks and fake ears and animal suits but when Mana had given her those photos the other day, she knew it wasn't that.

They were all in cages, spaced out over the grounds. Most had chains around their ankles, tails or whatever limb the owner had decided worked. Setsuna stopped near a cage whose bars were twisted inwards, looking at the occupant with dark eyes. It was a young boy lying on his side, shreds of clothing hanging off him. He had wolf ears, a bushy tail and claws and there was a heavy metal collar around his neck, the chain tied to the ground. Nearby, there was an empty dog dish. Raising a hand to the bars, she watched him softly as he twitched in his sleep, growling. His name was Kotarou, one of the wolf hanyous that'd been captured. Soon, they'd shut this place down, very soon. Pulling herself away from him, Setsuna continued onwards towards her destination. Leaves crackled beneath her feet, the wind biting into her skin as it swept past her. Setsuna drew her jacket around her tighter.

Up ahead the figure lying on the floor in the cage shifted, raising her head. She cried out happily, gripping the bars and rested her forehead against them. "I thought you'd never come," She said quietly.

"I'd always come, just for you," Setsuna whispered.

"My angel," She smiled at her, reaching through the gaps in the bars to stroke her hair.

Setsuna covered her hand with hers, squeezing it affectionately. Her name was Konoka and that was all she'd told her when they first met. The second time she'd seen her she'd been performing outside the cage in a show, dancing to a guitar and flirting with some of the audience but she always teased them, never getting close but they'd sensed her power, her confidence and like flies, they were drawn to it. They never suspected what she really as though. This was something like the 20th time they'd met and like all the other times Konoka wasn't wearing anything, exposing her luscious, slim figure. And like all the other times, she rejected the clothes Setsuna had brought with her in the back-pack she was carrying.

"You should wear something. This isn't right, the way you and your friends are treated," Setsuna muttered as she put the clothes back in.

"We're used to it," Konoka said, stretching and lying on her side with her head nestled in between her arms.

Setsuna tried very hard not to look at the curve of her back or the way her hair fell over her shoulders, splayed out in long, luxurious chocolate brown locks that curled all over her body. From beneath the curtain of bangs, her eyes shone brightly, warm and gentle. That was one of the things she loved most about her. Unlike Setsuna she could be what most people called an open book, showing her emotions and heart as freely as a child showering love to those who appeased her. Her eyes were the most beautiful thing Setsuna had ever seen her life.

"Here, take my jacket at least," Setsuna said, taking it off and handing it to her. Again she tried very hard to keep her eyes away from Konoka as she sat up to face her and took it, hugging it to her chest happily.

"You know I'm just going to ruin this when I transform at the full moon tonight," Konoka's eyes glinted, a gleam of golden yellow spinning through them.

"That doesn't matter. You're going to catch a cold the way you're going."

"Secchan, it's a jacket. It can't cover me much anyway."

Smiling at her sheepishly, Setsuna said. "It's something."

Konoka reached out and cupped her cheeks in both hands, kissing her on the nose. "You're too sweet to me. What about you? It'll be cold going back."

"I can handle it."

"Stubborn."

"Just looking out for you."

Giving her an affectionate look, Konoka slipped the jacket on. Setsuna brought her gaze back to her, passing her a dirty buttoned up shirt.

"I'm sorry, I can't really afford much right now. It was the best I had," Setsuna said.

"Don't be sorry, ever."

Setsuna pressed her forehead against the cool bars, closing her eyes. Times like this, she just wanted to stay here forever. Fly away from high school, from her friends towards the only thing that made sense in her screwed up life. She had no family to speak of having been abandoned when she was a child then kicked out of the house and left to fend for herself because of what she was. She was living in a run-down apartment that was shady at best and she could barely pay rent. She wasn't even human to begin with so why was she playing charades.

"Secchan? What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing," Setsuna replied automatically, opening her eyes.

"You're lying. I can always tell when you're doing that."

"Sorry, I was just thinking about my demon side. I'm going to be 17 soon and that's when…well," Setsuna's eyes flicked to the ground and she mumbled, "That's when I'll be an adult."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No, no I guess not. It's just that usually when a crow hanyou becomes mature um…certain…urges, they come into play. I mean I suppose it's all the same for humans and well every animal's like that so it's silly of me to be so nervous," Setsuna rambled.

Konoka was smiling at her. She let one sleeve fall loosely, revealing her bare shoulder.

"K-Kono-"

Moonlight illuminated the grounds, highlighting her curvaceous figure with eerie ethereal beauty. Her eyes flashed gold and Setsuna could see the tip of her tail whipping into sight.

"Will you stay the night with me please? I missed you too much."

Kneeling before her, Setsuna bowed her head, "I will do anything you ask ojou-sama."

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that or kneel like I'm some sort of princess?" Konoka knitted her eyebrows together, disappointed.

"I'm sorry but that is what you are and I, as a lowly hanyou…I…I'm undeserving of your attention. I could never hope to be on the same terms with someone of your status and power."

"...Secchan get up please," She sighed.

Standing, she was met with something she'd have ingrained in her brain forever. A wolf goddess stood before her, naked and gazing at her with deep golden eyes filled with nothing but love and care. Unable to help herself, her eyes scanned her body taking in every curve and line with greedy eyes.

"Like what you see?" Konoka said playfully.

Setsuna stuttered something, blushing to the roots of her hair. Konoka flicked her bushy tail, curling it around her leg. She knelt down in front of Setsuna and placed her hands in her lap.

"What are you doing ojou-sama?" Setsuna asked suspiciously, slightly unnerved.

Konoka grinned at her, revealing sharpened teeth and pulled her close, kissing her on the forehead. Pop! Setsuna's wings snapped out, a few white feathers flying everywhere. Embarrassed beyond belief, Setsuna immediately folded them back in but Konoka scratched them, stroking them with tender touches. Setsuna found herself purring, her mind filled with bliss. Her wings were her weakest point. Like all crow demons they were extremely sensitive to touch. Konoka had found the ultimate hotspot with them somewhere during one of their moonlit meetings, catching Setsuna off guard but she wasn't complaining. At the precise moment she was scratching it so energetically and it felt so _good _Setsuna sat down and straightened her back, spreading out her wings fully so Konoka could get to the spot easier.

She may have made a keening noise when Konoka slowed down, resting her hand on the crook of where her wing connected to her shoulder-blades. Dazedly, she looked at her. She was stifling a smirk, her golden eyes twinkling merrily. After a moment she began to stroke again, too slowly, prolonging the strokes playfully and teasing her, making Setsuna close her eyes and caw softly.

"Do you know why I've never tried to get out of here Secchan? It's because there was never any reason. Once I saw what was happening here I wanted to stay and help everyone the best I could. Then you came along," Konoka's voice seemed far away, like she was speaking through a muffler.

"I knew you could help us but more than that, I liked you Secchan. And nothing's changed. I still like you very much. So when we break out of here tonight with the others, would you come back to stay with me in the demon realm?"

"Anything," Setsuna murmured. Her eyes snapped open as Konoka took her hand away from her wing and she couldn't help the whine that escaped her throat.

"Later my darling after we help everyone," Konoka said, backing away from her.

Setsuna drifted back to reality, giving her a sleepy, confused look. She smiled at her as if she were hypnotised, eyes glazed, "How do you always do that to me? One day I'm going to wake up not knowing who I am."

"Don't be silly, you'll always know who you are. That's one of the things I love most about you," Konoka stuck her tongue out at Setsuna. "Now help me out of here."  
"Huh?"

"Maybe you need another kiss," Konoka grinned at her and Setsuna shook her head, the fog clearing from her mind.

"I'll get to work on those charms," Setsuna said hastily, pulling white rectangular pieces of paper with kanji written on them out of her backpack.

Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Konoka watching her with a knowing smile, holding back laughter. Setsuna kept her eyes on anywhere but her, wrapping the charms around the bars and tying the ends together firmly. The wolf deity was far more comfortable with showing large displays of affection and her body from the first day she'd known her. Setsuna still found it hard to not lose her mind around Konoka and sometimes, when she teased her with sultry laughs and smiles it was almost impossible to think straight and she'd lose her cool completely.

"Stand as far back as you can please ojou-sama," Setsuna said, standing and pulling Yunagi out of the sheath she'd strapped over her shoulder.

Making sure she was safe, Setsuna slid one foot and arm back and swung the sword at the cage. The sword cut into the metal bars with a furious grinding clang and she yelled, "Shinemiryu Ougi Zantetsusen!"

The explosion of energy that erupted from her sword destroyed the enchanted bars as if they'd been made out of butter, charms and all.

Clearing out all the dust from the explosion with her hand, Setsuna called out anxiously, "Ojou-sama? Are you alright?"

A magnificent dark brown wolf, sleek and voluptuous with golden eyes tinged with spikes of dark brown, stepped out of the cage. It was larger than an average wolf, easily double the size and height. It straightened, standing proud and tall and lifted its muzzle to the moon, full and fat now. As it sent a battle cry into the air, a long howl, Setsuna knelt down on one knee in front of it and folded her wings inwards, the tips of the bottoms feathers brushing the ground. Wind billowed around them and the smell of fresh leaves, flowers, fields and forests, pure unpolluted fauna and rain-water enveloped the air. In the distance dozens of howls answered her and when Setsuna dared to look at Konoka her coat was tinged with bronze and gold, glowing and flickering with the radiance of otherworldly fire. Even her eyes seemed to burn with a new light, like looking into the blazing sun, fierce, warm and dangerous. Then her voice echoed in her head, calm and magnificent.

_Secchan, I want you to stay out of sight in case the ring-master wants to capture you too. _

"What? No!" Setsuna sprang to her feet, blurting out.

All around them the rest of the demons were waking up, rubbing their eyes. Gasps and delighted shouts filled the air as at least a dozen wolves prowled into the area, spreading out among the cages and inspecting the demons inside curiously or pawing at them.

"No way," Setsuna repeated bluntly as Konoka threw her a look, her ears starting to flatten against her skull.

"What on earth is going on out…here, jesus!" The ringmaster ran towards them with his staff, his face turning white as he saw the wolves.

Setsuna lunged for the man, flaring out her wings and tackled him to the floor, the flat of Yunagi pressed against his throat. She felt his rib-cage crack beneath her feet on impact and he screamed in agony, the staff rolling out of his hand towards a wolf where it picked it up and crunched it to pieces like it was paper. Electric sparks spat from the cages.

"Get them out of here ojou-sama! The staff's been broken, the rest of the enchantments have been nullified!" Setsuna shouted.

The wolves went to work quickly, bashing at the locks, denting bars, slamming into the bars with heavy front paws stronger than they should've been or breaking the bars with teeth that could've ripped through the toughest metal by the looks of things. Konoka darted through the mass of wolves to Kotarou who was gripping the bars white-knuckled, looking ready to kill. She clamped her jaws around the lock and ripped it off, backing away quickly as he burst out of the cage, transforming into a giant humanoid-looking wolf. He twisted his head, his face twisted in murderous rage looking for the ringmaster but Konoka jumped in front of him, barking at him sharply. Setsuna didn't see the rest because the ringmaster conjured a knife out of thin air and plunged it into her shoulder. Staggering off him, she crashed into an empty cage, the occupant having joined in the rescue mission and gasped, wrapping her fingers around the handle of the knife.

"You are coming with me!" The ringmaster rasped, pointing a finger at her. Streams of golden light sped out of it, curling around Setsuna and binding her wings to her sides.

As she toppled over, hitting the ground the knife was pushed even deeper making her scream. A brown blur suddenly flashed in front of her, severing the streams of light with snap of powerful jaws. A thunderous roar burst into the air, splitting the heavens themselves.

It was Konoka. Her ears were pinned back on her skull, her fur standing on end and tail raised. Golden fire swirled around her in a circle looking like shifting molten lava. Approaching the ringmaster, her paws burning holes in the earth with each step, the fire rose in height and expanded so much it became a tornado that swirled around her.

"Hey now remember you can't hurt me. You're-you're the wolf goddess, you're meant to be peaceful," The ringmaster stammered, backing away.

Tongues of fire whipped out at him, knocking off his top hat and incinerating it to a crisp. Tripping backwards over his own shoe-laces, he scampered off with a terrified scream. Snorting, Konoka watched him leave. She jerked her head to Kotarou who grinned wickedly, bloodlust in his eyes and bolted in the general direction of where the ringmaster had gone.

Setsuna was on the ground, leaning against the cage. She wrenched the knife out, losing what little colour she had in her face and sagged, the knife tumbling from her hand.

"P-poisoned," Setsuna said as Konoka hurried to her, teeth chattering.

_It'll be ok. Just concentrate on my voice ok? _Her voice was cool, gentle in her head. As Konoka lied down beside her, resting her head on her lap, Setsuna thought she could die happy right now. Red spots filled her vision and she felt her heart slow, her entire body felt like it'd been dunked in acid. Time seemed to slow down and suddenly everything went blank and a serene feeling, like she was floating lulled her to sleep. She wasn't sure how long she was out but when she came to the grounds were deserted and Konoka in her semi-human form with tail, golden eyes, wolf ears and all, sitting with her knees folded and holding her head against her chest, caressing her cheek.

"Ojou-sama?"

"Secchan! Thank god, thank god you're alive," Konoka cried out, smiling down at her with tears running down her face.

"Are you?" Setsuna asked, light-headed. Konoka's face was blurring in and out of focus.

"Yes, everyone is all thanks to you. I'm still so weak huh? I can save you but I can't even save myself," Konoka sounded disappointed, hurting.

Setsuna raised a hand, twisting her body so she faced her and whispered, "You're the strongest person I know."

Konoka's lips grazed hers and she slumped over in her princess's arms. She would never leave her side ever again.

_I love you. _

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A.N: Nearly there guys. Thanks to all who's reviwed and read. Hope you all enjoyed it. The next one is the final installment so stay tuned. It's kind of the closure to this whole thing. To Snoozy and Lance I know and I'm sorry but I couldn't extend the one-shots to more than two. The interludes are all related in a way because they're chronicling just how close these two get only to be torn apart but in the end not even death could stop them from meeting and falling in love all over again. Hell even in the afterlife in the Angels and Demons one-shot they still find each other xD.

At world: Thanks, you've been wonderful throughout this whole thing. I'm both grateful and impressed by the fact that you've read all my shots and reviewed all of them. I hope I don't disappoint you and everyone else with the very final one.

At Affrettando: Lols np thanks for the compliment :] It makes me very happy to hear those things. And my bad on the kendo


	26. Soulmates

Wolf: I'm glad. This was always going to be a happy ending ;D

Lance: Sorry but this is the end. It's all come full circle. But I will be putting out another story sometime in the future, two in fact if time allows me.

Leftie: No worries as long as you get something out of the story I'm happy. :] I think fantasy would actually be pretty fun to explore if done right. The She-Wolf shot was just an experiment of how it could work. I was tempted to just scrape it altogether and make it into a story on its own but then I thought nah. Funny you should mention about the title I actually did get inspiration for the shot from the song. Shakira 3

world: Aw you make me blush thank you world 3 but this fic isn't all that great. I still have a lot to improve tbh lol. I'm glad that I've made their characters stay in-character. That was actually one of the hardest things to do.

sHuUrEi: All things must come to an end as they say but yep there's a couple of others that I've been working on and one other that's in the making so stay tuned ;]

Now on with the show!

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Soulmates

She was the spirit of water, mysterious, calm, collected. And she, she was the spirit of air, playful and carefree. They never had spoken to each other before but they always knew where each other were for the air blew through the water and the water could not help but touch the air. Today the water spirit had taken the form of a young girl dressed in a white kimono with a blue hakama with no shoes. The bangs of her hair was pinned back with a tiny blue brooch in the shape of a cartoony wing made out of gleaming ice on her left side while the rest fell down in a casual wave at her shoulders, spiky and spaced out evenly.

Sitting on a floating rock she'd found in the evening calm waters, she placed her tiny hands on the rock and leaned back, gazing up at the cloudless clear blue sky. As she drummed her fingers on the rock, water seeped upwards and formed into a long sword made out of solid ice, gleaming underneath the moonlight. Its blade was pure white like the spirit's hair and had a certain silver gleam. The underside was ice blue like her eyes and the hilt was encrusted with sapphires.

The spirit's features creased as a gentle wind picked up around her, sending playful waves rolling against the rock, drenching the bottom of her hakama. It even rocked the sword a little before the spirit laid a hand on it, steadying it firmly. Even though she'd never met her counter-part, she could still sense her presence and the other could do the same-such was the way they were tied together in harmony, forever. It was decreed by the fates eons ago. And during the time they spent together it's blossomed into an intangible relationship that could be two halves of a single entity.

"I know you're there," The water spirit sighed as her hair was ruffled by the wind.

"Aw, party pooper you're no fun," A voice said disappointedly, seeming to come from everywhere at once all around her.

There was a rush of wind and she could see it-tendrils of grey-white swirling around next to her in a frenzied, wild storm. In a few seconds it formed another young girl, this one with long brown hair and big brown eyes dressed in an elaborate light blue and white kimono with fluffy white clouds on it.

"Hello this is the first time we met. I'm the air spirit!" She announced and twirled in the air beside the water spirit, bowing.

Raising an eyebrow, the water spirit said. "You know, you weren't what I expected for an air spirit."

Sticking her tongue out, the air spirit said, "You don't seem like the water spirit to me either. You look more like an air spirit to me."

Looking at the water, the spirit shrugged and said thoughtfully after a moment, "We can look like many things can't we? We're just...energy anyway."

"It's cute," The air spirit said a bit too innocently.

"What?"

"Every time I happen to look down at you you've worn the same thing and you look the same too. Does it mean something special to you?"

"I…it just feels right somehow, special to me. This is the form I'm most comfortable with. Wait you were watching me?"

"Uh...yeah," The air spirit laughed nervously. "It kind of gets boring up there. There's no one to play with or talk to and you're my other half anyway. I want to hang out with you but it's just you always go back to your natural form so fast that I can't catch you and you're always doing something. Water's hard to catch what with it slipping through your fingers all the time."

Looking slightly sheepish, the water spirit muttered something under her breath before returning her gaze to the sea. Columns of water rose up all around her, forming a watery wall. Like the element she held domain over, she was temperamental at her worst, closed off unless someone pried and prodded and not easy to get...deep into without a lot of effort and the right amount of prodding and carefully timed and worded questions. Backing down, the air spirit sat down beside her cross-legged in the air, laying her hands on her knees and closing her eyes.

"What are you doing?" The water spirit asked curiously, watching her out of the corner of her eye through the water. She could see through it like it was glass.

"Nothing," The air spirit said, opening one eye with a certain mischief in her voice.

Looking bewildered the water spirit said nothing for a moment then waved her hand. The columns of water around her broke into tiny streams and criss-crossed and looped into a watery portrait of the air spirit in front of them. She nudged the air spirit shyly. She opened her eyes, curious and snapped to her feet, hovering in the air.

"How did you…?"

"Um, I uh…you see…" The water spirit stammered.

"You were watching me too?" The air spirit stared at her open-mouthed.

Blushing, the water spirit murmured, letting the water fall back into the ocean with a splash. "It wasn't...I didn't mean to but sometimes you stick your head out of the clouds to look down at me or you go into your human form and change back into your natural form a few times. Once you looked older but most of the time you looked like the way you are now. And you never wear the same clothes. It was hard to reach you from down here."

The air spirit stared at her for the longest time that she felt nervous but then the air spirit squealed with delight and tackled her, sending them both plummeting into the ocean with a splash as one, water and air.

_Unseen to them, the mysterious girl in the jester hat with grey hair watched the two sprites contently from a distance. She was only known as Zazie, the keeper of souls and the Lord of Death. Hovering in the air, she was the only one that saw the glimmer of red. It was the red string that connected each person to their special soulmate, an invisible thread that no creature could see, nearly no creature. _

_And in every single life these two were the ones whose string had never broken and always found each other. _

_Tied around each other's last finger, no matter how far they were from each other it never severed. And the string would not go to anyone else. Not even when Setsuna had died and left Konoka alone. She'd married but she hadn't really loved the man. It'd reappeared when they'd met each other again in the afterlife then again when they'd been normal girls in the amusement park and their destinies had been sealed. _

_As Zazie watched them, Konoka stopped cuddling Setsuna and looked in her direction confused for a moment. Then she laughed and hovered into the air taking Setsuna with her. Smiling as the water spirit cried out and looked nervously around her Zazie turned and vanished murmuring, "The red string of fate, underneath this sacred sky… now turns into a bond. Forever together, bound by eternity and love and so it should be." _

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A.N: The End. Thank you everyone who read and reviewed this. I love you all, until next time. Watch out for a short tale of a love potion gone very wrong :3. And if any of you are Yue/Collet/Emily fans check out Yuetchi Farandole's fic "Define Love Series".


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